Coleus flowering: a survival tactic?
My coleus is flowering and google says it may not be a good thing. One its a response to stress so it produces seeds in case it dies (rather dramatic but good survival tactic) and two, it becomes leggy. Im gonna leave it as is and keep an eye on it for now. #coleus floweringplants">#floweringplants #plantsmakepeoplehappy
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The plant lady in my neighborhood who taught me about plants when I was a kid, told me to pinch off coleus spikes (flowers) when they occur because they take plant energy away from the pretty leaves. I would love to grow them outside now, but I don’t because they are poisonous to animals and we have a dog who would be in the same area.
I grow coleus almost every year, and I don’t remove their flowers. My plants get pretty huge but I also put Miracle Gro on them every 10 days or so, like all of my annuals. flowering doesn’t hurt my plants, and they don’t just flower as a stress response—they’re just going to do it, like any other plant. For such tiny flowers, they attract a lot of bees, so I leave them as pollinator food. Also, they produce seeds. I often get baby coleus plants coming up in my garden or surrounding flower pots, and the baby plants are always as colorful and beautiful as the parent plants. I don’t see any reason to remove the flowers myself, but it’s personal preference. The flower spikes do stick up higher than the rest of the plant, which may not be the look everyone is going for.
@AC73LoveCats We dont have pets. The coleus, bougainvillea, ti plant and crepe jasmine are all planted in a raised garden bed. Maybe you can consider that.
If you want it to remain bushy pinch the flowers back. If you leave them the plant will stop producing and start end of life phase. It’s kinda like lettuce “bolting” the more you pinch the more it tells the plant to produce more leaves. I kept a coleus for almost 3 years by bringing in during the winter
