A Quick Primer on Growing Coleus Indoors

 Maureen Rosen

After the cutting has rooted in water, move to a small pot of either light soil or growing medium. Using a chopstick or small dowel upright in the pot,  drape a piece of clear plastic over the whole. Place in a light area, not direct sun, keep moist. Once the plant seems firmly started, remove the plastic and move to full sun if possible.  If the plant becomes spindly, pinch out the top leaves. This will cause it to branch out and become full. If it really gets too big for your pot, pinch off a piece, stick it in water and begin all over again.(Or put it in a bigger pot).

 Some Coleus are called ’ trailers’ because,  not surprisingly, they like to trail and hang as much as two feet out of their pots when fully grown. These are lovely in hanging baskets if you can manage. There is absolutely no difference in how they are grown.

 They can also be started from seed but I have never done that. If anyone is willing to try , please let us know how it works out.

A Letter to greensview.org from a Committee Member:

 

Gardening is a wonderful hobby and pastime! It brings people together, changes your mental health, and reduces stress and anxiety. Gardening brings out the creative side in me. It’s beautiful! It’s spectacular! It gives you a sense of accomplishment.

To see something you would plant in the fall, come up in the spring, like rare and unusual colored Daffodils, Dwarf Dutch Iris, wild species, tulips and crocuses is exciting.

I am always reading and learning and it gives me a chance to be very creative and imaginative. To see something grow, to nurture the soil is life and truly joyful. Gardening  brings forth discussion and friendly debates.  All the colors of flowering plants open your mind to create, to feel positive and happy.  It is never boring, it is exercise for your body and mind and makes you young.  It keeps away depression, dementia & Alzheimer’s. It gives you satisfaction and happiness to see that something you planted is growing and prospering.

Being an artist it broadens my perception of my world and the people in it.  It helps you make friends and not be lonely.

I love to get ideas from all the gardens I’ve visited in the five boroughs: The Bronx Botanical Garden,Queens ,Brooklyn and Staten Island Botanical Gardens and the Central Park garden next to the Zoo.

I love to keep my mind active and talking to the members of the Aesthetics & Gardening Committee is a way to do this. I am surprised that there are not even more members. I hope this inspires you to join us.

Sincerely,

David Markowitz.

Greensview Notes

If you would like to see the plants that our staff has been busy planting this fall, come into the office. There you will find a binder that shows a great many of them. It is not complete but a really good representation. It will be updated as often as possible.

At the latest Garden & Aesthetics Committee meeting, several members took home rooted cuttings of Coleus to over winter in their homes. By growing them indoors we will be able to get a head start on summer.  Coleus,comes in many different colours, grows like a weed in sun, and is a lovely, bright and cheery plant. See below for more on Growing Coleus Indoors.

If you were not at the meeting but would still like to have a cutting to over winter, please let us know by contacting us at greensviewnews@greensview.org.

There will be times that members of the Committee will be seen cutting various plants. This is in order to provide rooted cuttings that will be nurtured over the winter and provide a quick burst of color in the spring. It is not ,”picking a bouquet” which I am sure the gentleman thought I was doing on Tuesday. We are also trying to root an assortment of shrubs. It will be trial and error but there is nothing to lose.