with only a few hours of indirect morning sun. Does GREAT. Sadly, I hear they are damned hard to bring inside overwinter--need warmth and moisture--something hard to ensure near even the most insulated window in Colorado.

Replant in soil in the spring and VOILA-- everlasting coleus!

I've done this for two years now with great success and have given cuttings to others that have grown well as well.

they don't need a lot of water or space.

Don't worry if the cutting doesn't grow much and/or looks pathetic and shrunken by Spring. Rootings with just a few tiny leaves left on them have grown into big lush plants for me once they have a little time back in dirt.

I know you are supposed to change the water weekly.. anything else?

to planting, so "many many months" would be my best guess.

The cuttings won't grow big leaves like they do in soil and the roots can get kind of dark (the sunshine hitting the water causes a green fungus to grow on the roots and in the jar). I rarely "change" the water and just top it off as needed. When the jars get really green'ish I'll wipe them out (a paper towel and a chopstick works great for this) and put in all fresh water, but it's more an aesthetic thing than a biological need.

My mother commented "I would have given up on this sad thing" when I gave her one of my rootings earlier this year, but it is a thriving bushy resident of her doorstep planter now.

Once re-planted, it can take two weeks or so to really get going again, but every rooting I've done this with eventually grows big and healthy.

I'm recharging my camera battery now, but will try and post some pics of my current rootings later.

For some reason, the green scum in the jars isn't showing up much, but I assure you, it's there!

The green w/red center leaves cutting sticking out to the right in the left hand jar and the little red one in the middle are representative of what your cuttings will look like after many months in water. The bigger ones are cuttings I've already taken from this year's crop. They will lose their bigger leaves and make small ones to replace them.




(I took them off the window sill for the photo shoot b/c the light was really messing with getting a good shot of both the water and the plants.)


Happy rooting! Let me know how you do with it.

I know there are a zillion varieties of Coleus, but mine looks just like yours. So, now I'm heartened. I hate the loss of plants over the winter.

I've already figured out how to deal with the plants that produce bulbs (e.g., caladium), so outside the petunias, I may well salvage quite a bit of this year's plants.

thanks!

I have an Angelonia plant that I grew from last year's rooted cuttings and this year I discovered catalina (wishbone flower) and marigolds will root in water. Remains to be seen if they will overwinter but it's always fun to try.

My craziest water survivor is a hosta cutting my mom gave me last year. All the leaves fell off but I kept the roots in water and they grew new leaves this summer. It's still sitting in the windowsill and may have to wait until next year to go in the ground b/c shady spots are few and far between around casa de beac.

One note -- avoid the dark, dull colors -- they just disappear and add to the gloom. The plants grow as well as any other colors, they just don't show up. The very vibrant colors, hot pinks, chartreuse, orange, are better because they pop, rather than hide.

and they don't do great. They survive, but they do not get full and beautiful there.

green and green& white ones?

there are a lot of interesting ones available. That would be one choice for that area. I will say that even hosta doesn't do great in my shade area either, so you may have different conditions. My hosta in a little more partial sun areas grows by leaps and bounds, but this just languishes.

But why don't you try coleus one year to see if it does well in your area?