Growing Coleus: A Complete Profile

By Growing Home Greens Team · August 20, 2026

Coleus is a foliage plant. NC State Extension puts it plainly: it is grown for its multi-coloured leaves, in reds, burgundies, pinks and golds, and the flowers are beside the point.

Pinch the flowers off

When it does flower, it puts energy into seed and the foliage declines. Pinching out the flower spikes as they appear keeps the leaves coming, and it is the only routine maintenance the plant asks for.

The tag matters more than the species

The toolbox lists it as tolerating anything from deep shade to full sun, which is unhelpfully broad until you know why: older cultivars scorch in sun and newer sun-tolerant series do not. Two plants sold as coleus can want opposite conditions. Keep the label.

Size and season

Six inches to three feet, in both height and spread, depending on cultivar. Perennial in zones 10 and 11 and an annual everywhere else.

It roots readily from cuttings in a glass of water, which is how most people carry a favourite plant through winter rather than sowing fresh. Seed is fine and needs light, sown about ten weeks before the last frost.

Source: NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, Plectranthus scutellarioides.

Companion planting guide for Coleus · Find your planting dates

Typically viable in USDA zones 3-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.

Method: Start indoors: Start indoors from seed, then transplant outside. Coleus needs a head start most zones can't give it by direct-sowing alone.

See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →

How many Coleus plants fit per square foot?

Spacing: 1 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 0.5-3 ft.

Where to buy coleus seeds

• Botanical Interests
• True Leaf Market
• Burpee
• High Mowing Organic Seeds

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See it growing

Search YouTube for "growing coleus" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)

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Growing Coleus: Grown for leaf colour rather than flowers, with the sun tolerance depending entirely on which cultivar you bought.

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