Back in the spring, Joe Koller sent in some photos of Alan Summer’s Maryland garden and his over-the-top display of peonies and other early blooms (read it here), and now he’s back with some shots of the summer look of the garden—with a focus on coleus! Joe says that Alan has been collecting and trailing different coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides, Zone 11) for years, keeping the ones that he likes and that perform the best.

For plants like coleus that have literally thousands of different varieties on the market, taking the time to try different ones each year is really worth it, because you can find the particular varieties that perform the best in your climate and have the particular colors that appeal most to you. Though coleus have to be grown as annuals anywhere with freezing temperatures in the winter, it is very easy to take cuttings in the fall and overwinter your favorites in a sunny windowsill so you can plant them out again in the summer. For information on taking cuttings of coleus (or other annuals), check out this article.  To learn how to pinch back coleus to get a denser, bushier growth habit, watch this video. We’ve also got a rundown of some of Fine Gardening’s very favorite coleus varieties here.

What are your favorites?

The whole collection! What a display, and with color that lasts all summer with no fuss.

I love this pairing of container and plant, with the intricately textured leaves echoing the design of the container.

A really massive coleus. Displaying each variety individually in pots like this really allows each one to show off.

Another view of the massive pots of coleus scattered all over this patio. It’s incredible that so much diversity of color can come from just different varieties of one foliage plant.

This one looks to me like it might be the variety ‘Henna’. I love the jagged leaf margins and the bright color.

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

If you want to send photos in separate emails to the GPOD email box that is just fine.

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You don’t have to be a professional garden photographer – check out our garden photography tips!

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