Plant Sale 2025 – Coleus for Color

While many of our favorite flowering plants bring colorful relief from the grey of winter, many of them are short lived, brightening the garden for only a week or two. And many of these are meant for sun, leaving our shady areas a little lonely for color.

For longer lasting color and options for brightening up areas of shade, consider some plants with fancy foliage. There are many beautiful plants whose leaves are the garden showstoppers instead of their blooms, and most of these provide color throughout the growing season from spring to fall.

One of the most common annuals known for its spectacular foliage is Coleus. Coleus is a member of the mint family whose stems are square, and leaves grow in pairs, opposite each other.

Other members of this family include some of our more common spices such as sage, basil and rosemary. Unlike those spices, Coleus is known not for being aromatic but for its vibrant and colorful foliage.

Coleus leaves can range in colors from almost black – dark purple to a bright rainbow of hues mostly occurring mixed on the same leaf.

A particularly valuable characteristic of Coleus is that there are many varieties that are adapted to grow in the shade where it is often difficult to add splashes of color to a garden. So, if you have a shady patio or are looking for colorful plants in a shade garden consider these varieties of Coleus that are for sale at the HCMG Spring Plant Sale.

‘Rainbow Mix’ has been the ‘go-to’ Coleus variety for many years. It’s a medium sized plant with leaf color combination like lime green/white, burgundy/yellow, fuchsia/purple/lime. For a similar mix of color in a shorter, shade loving plant ‘Fairway Mix’ coleus grows to only 8” tall and is excellent in containers or garden edges.

Fairway Mix

For a more uniform splash of color in a shady area try ‘Gnash Rambler’. A beautiful serrated leafed coleus with brick red leaves works great as border edge or as a mass planting.

Gnash Rambler
Photo credit Bob Barni

If your patio or yard is very sunny with little to no shade, there are coleus varieties that are particularly sun tolerant as well.

‘Lombard Street’ coleus is sun loving with spiky, burgundy leaves and chartreuse borders. The leaf edges are very curly, so named for the winding San Francisco Street!

Lombard Street
Photo credit Bob Barni

If you are looking for a chartreuse leaf with purple veins, ‘Gay’s Delight ‘coleus will brighten up any sunny planter or garden.

Gay’s Delight
Photo credit Bob Barni

Whether you have shade or sun, there is a coleus variety that you can incorporate into your garden, providing bright colors and unique foliage into your landscape this season!