That Coleus I Grew From Seed

I grew a new coleus, Coleus ‘Premium Sun Coral Candy’ from seeds sent to me by All-America Selections. This is one of their 2023 ornamental seed winners.

It’s a good one!

They sent me seeds in a little plastic vial because coleus seeds are tiny. These seeds were even pelleted—coated with something biodegradable to make them bigger and easier to handle.

Before I had a chance to sow them, Dee and I talked about them quite a bit on our Gardenangelists podcast and got listeners excited about them. But the seeds were hard to find, so I sent half of my dozen or so pelleted seeds to a listener who wanted to grow them too.

Then I sowed my remaining six pelleted seeds, and guess what?

There was surely more than one seed in a pellet because I ended up with about a lucky 13 seedlings that I carefully pricked out and planted in their own little containers, and all of them grew.

But slowly.

I gave one seedling to a sister earlier in the spring, which left me still with a dozen.

What was I going to do with a dozen coleus seedlings?

Plant them in my old wheelbarrow late in the spring after I removed some pansies that were growing in it.

And so they grew. And I think they look quite nice. They are mostly in the shade, but they would also do well in the sun.

How do I know?

Well, as I was wondering where I was going to plant my 12 seedlings, I got a box of trial plants from PanAmerican Seed which included two seedlings of… Coleus Premium Sun Coral Candy.

I laughed.

I planted those two seedlings in a container on the front porch, where they get more sun than those in the wheelbarrow. They grew much bigger and have already begun to flower. (I need to pinch those flowers off, thanks for the reminder.)

Notice something else? The leaves on one of the seedlings from PanAmerican Seed lack the variegation of the Premium Sun Coral Candy, which means either I got a mislabeled coleus, or it’s a sport, a chance mutation, that no one noticed.

Anyway…

I loved growing this coleus from seeds, and though at first I wasn’t sure I liked the looks of it compared to other coleus I’ve bought and grown, it’s growing on me (haha, a pun!), and I like it now.

(Note that this is the first time I’ve grown coleus from seed. I’d rate it as above beginner level due to the size of the seeds, and as Dee and I both noted, it initially grows quite slowly so you need some patience and an early start.)