The leaves are spectacular, both for their red-to-midnight-purple color shading and their rippling edges, which give the plant much more presence than most Coleus. The leaves will turn color and begin to pucker at a very early age, making this one of the most fun seeds to start indoors. (For even fuller, bushier plants, pinch back the young tips a few times during the growth season.) I sowed a packet of 'Black Dragon' in successive waves about a month apart, just to enjoy the young leaves that much longer!
This compact plant reaches about a foot high and nearly as wide in partial to full shade (or bright indirect light indoors). In the garden, it's a fine companion to everything from Begonias to Impatiens. Indoors, it fills a 6- to 8-inch pot beautifully with color that never quits!
Coleus germinates readily and grows eagerly. For bushier, fuller plants, keep the growing tips pinched. To extend the lush color into fall, remove any stray flower spikes that emerge -- they take energy away from maintaining the gorgeous foliage, and the flowers are insignificant. If growing in the garden, sow about 10 inches apart. If growing indoors for houseplants, sow at any time, placing the young plants in a well-lit window. Pkt is 40 seeds.
Grown as house and conservatory plants, used in containers and hanging baskets, and planted out in beds and borders. These upright, rounded plants grow from 6-36 inches tall, have square stems, and produce non-showy blue or lavender flowers in late summer. Grown for the showy foliage that comes in an imaginative array of variegated colors: chartreuse, green, white, bronze, gold, copper, yellow, pink, red, and purple. The leaf margins are smooth, fringed, toothed, wrinkled, ruffled, or deeply lobed
Superior Germination Through Superior Science
First of all, we have humidity- and temperature-controlled storage, and we never treat any of our seeds with chemicals or pesticides. Nor do we ever sell GMO's (genetically modified seeds), so you always know the products you're buying from us are natural as well as safe for you and the environment.
Superior Standards - University Inspected
Hand Packed By Experienced Technicians
Park Seed has been handling and packing vegetable and flower seeds for 145 years, a history that has given us a great understanding of how each variety should be cared for and maintained throughout every step of theprocess, from collection to shipping.
When packing our seeds, the majority are actually done by hand (with extreme care!), and we often over-pack them, so you're receiving more than the stated quantity.
The Park Seed Gold Standard
Heirloom Seeds are open-pollinated -- they are not hybrids. You can gather and save heirloom seed from year to year and they will grow true to type every year, so they can be passed down through generations. To be considered an heirloom, a variety would have to be at least from the 1940's and 3 generations old (many varieties are much older -- some 100 years or more!).
Hybrid seed are the product of cross-pollination between 2 different parent plants, resulting in a new plant/seed that is different from the parents. Unlike Heirloom seed, hybrid seed need to be re-purchased new every year (and not saved). They usually will not grow true to type if you save them, but will revert to one of the parents they were crossed with and most likely look/taste different in some way.
The leaves are spectacular, both for their red-to-midnight-purple color shading and their rippling edges, which give the plant much more presence than most Coleus. The leaves will turn color and begin to pucker at a very early age, making this one of the most fun seeds to start indoors. (For even fuller, bushier plants, pinch back the young tips a few times during the growth season.) I sowed a packet of 'Black Dragon' in successive waves about a month apart, just to enjoy the young leaves that much longer!
This compact plant reaches about a foot high and nearly as wide in partial to full shade (or bright indirect light indoors). In the garden, it's a fine companion to everything from Begonias to Impatiens. Indoors, it fills a 6- to 8-inch pot beautifully with color that never quits!
Coleus germinates readily and grows eagerly. For bushier, fuller plants, keep the growing tips pinched. To extend the lush color into fall, remove any stray flower spikes that emerge -- they take energy away from maintaining the gorgeous foliage, and the flowers are insignificant. If growing in the garden, sow about 10 inches apart. If growing indoors for houseplants, sow at any time, placing the young plants in a well-lit window. Pkt is 40 seeds.
Grown as house and conservatory plants, used in containers and hanging baskets, and planted out in beds and borders. These upright, rounded plants grow from 6-36 inches tall, have square stems, and produce non-showy blue or lavender flowers in late summer. Grown for the showy foliage that comes in an imaginative array of variegated colors: chartreuse, green, white, bronze, gold, copper, yellow, pink, red, and purple. The leaf margins are smooth, fringed, toothed, wrinkled, ruffled, or deeply lobed
Superior Germination Through Superior Science
First of all, we have humidity- and temperature-controlled storage, and we never treat any of our seeds with chemicals or pesticides. Nor do we ever sell GMO's (genetically modified seeds), so you always know the products you're buying from us are natural as well as safe for you and the environment.
Superior Standards - University Inspected
Hand Packed By Experienced Technicians
Park Seed has been handling and packing vegetable and flower seeds for 145 years, a history that has given us a great understanding of how each variety should be cared for and maintained throughout every step of theprocess, from collection to shipping.
When packing our seeds, the majority are actually done by hand (with extreme care!), and we often over-pack them, so you're receiving more than the stated quantity.
The Park Seed Gold Standard
Heirloom Seeds are open-pollinated -- they are not hybrids. You can gather and save heirloom seed from year to year and they will grow true to type every year, so they can be passed down through generations. To be considered an heirloom, a variety would have to be at least from the 1940's and 3 generations old (many varieties are much older -- some 100 years or more!).
Hybrid seed are the product of cross-pollination between 2 different parent plants, resulting in a new plant/seed that is different from the parents. Unlike Heirloom seed, hybrid seed need to be re-purchased new every year (and not saved). They usually will not grow true to type if you save them, but will revert to one of the parents they were crossed with and most likely look/taste different in some way.