May 11, 2015
Celebrating the Year of the Coleus By Jasmina Dolce

As you are most likely aware by now, the National Garden Bureau designated 2015 as Year of the Coleus. Well, breeders must have gotten the memo because they introduced a ton of gorgeous new coleus varieties this year at the 2015 California Spring Trials.

Each year, the National Garden Bureau’s board of directors selects crops for its program that are easy to grow and genetically diverse with a lot of new varieties to choose from. And the organization encourages growers, brokers and garden centers to take advantage of the publicity generated from the program.

Even though the new varieties on display at Spring Trials won’t be available until next season, we loved seeing all the great new colors in coleus. Below is a sampling of some of the new coleus introductions that caught our eye at the trials. But keep in mind, there are many more new varieties in the pipeline. So get in touch with your suppliers to find out what’s available.

To learn more about the “Year of the” program, go to www.ngb.org.

‘Globetrotters Jackie’ (Terra Nova Nurseries)

A great container plant, ‘Globetrotters Jackie’ has a tight upright habit. Its leaves are cream with green edges on top and deep pink on the bottom.

‘Under the Sea Copper Coral’ (Hort Couture)

This medium-vigor coral variety has wonderful color dimension from yellow to red to green. It performs well in full sun and full shade.

‘Colorblaze Apple Brandy’ (Proven Winners)

The red and chartreuse leaves on this plant deliver all season color and do not bleach out in the sun. It can be used in landscape mass plantings or as a thriller in mixed containers.

‘Coliseum Ceres’ (Danziger)

The new Coliseum series features easy-to-grow, well-branched plants. The most vigorous of the bunch, Ceres has fairly large leaves in green and bordeaux.

‘PartyTime Lime’ (Sakata)

An ideal component plant for mixes, PartyTime has a trailing to semi-trailing habit with compact growth. It tolerates full sun to shade.

‘Main Street Granville Street’ (Dümmen Orange)

A new addition to the Main Street collection, Granville Street sports a classic look that will brighten up shade gardens or make an ideal centerpiece in containers.

‘Flame Thrower Chili Pepper’ (Ball FloraPlant)