ENTER: COLEUS

“Coleus Seed Kid” from Crayola

Happy Thursday to all! I have been busy this week working on some freelancing work and have not had much time to blog. I planned to blog today and was not sure what about…and then, I woke this morning and saw these cute little sproutlings!

Last week at Aldi’s I picked up a couple of these Crayola Coleus grow kits, on sale for only $1.99! There were only two left, and, being the thrifty plant addict that I’ve become over the winter, I snagged them! I thought it would be a fun little project to help pass the time, and better yet, decorate my living room with!

Coleus is a colorful foliage that generally is treated as an annual, though pinching off the flowers to prevent seeds will prolong it’s growing cycle. Since I have two, I am going to let one grow it’s cycle naturally and attempt to harvest the seeds to grow more, and the other, I am going to prevent from seeding, to see how that grows. Coleus can also be propagated from a soft wood cutting, which I plan to do with my plant that I am going to just let grow.

The coleus is not only part of the nettle family (minus the stinging nettles), it is also a mint. It comes in a variety of colors and is easy to care for (which is right up my alley!)

These were very easy for me to start, requiring little care. All you need to be careful of when sowing, is to keep the seedlings moist and keep the pot covered with saran wrap or something clear of the like, (I used an empty glass jar to cover the top) and keep them in bright light, but not direct sun. We’ve got sproutlings already, about a week and a half after sowing the seeds. If you have a little one, I would recommend finding them a little kit like this that they can sow their own seeds, and watch the beauty and miracle of plant life as they grow!