Breathe a little hot color into the shade border or sunny window this season with 'Black Dragon', an unusually richly-textured, warmly-colored foliage plant. Compact, very showy, and easy to grow, it's a must-have for anyone with a patch of shade (or empty flowerpot) to call their own.
The leaves are spectacular, both for their red-to-midnight-purple color shading and their rippling edges, which give the plant much more presence than most coleus. The leaves will turn color and begin to pucker at a very early age, making this one of the most fun seeds to start indoors. (For even fuller, bushier plants, pinch back the young tips a few times during the growth season.) I sowed a packet of 'Black Dragon' in successive waves about a month apart, just to enjoy the young leaves that much longer.
This compact plant reaches about a foot high and nearly as wide in partial to full shade (or bright indirect light indoors). In the garden, it's a fine companion to everything from begonias to impatiens. Indoors, it fills a 6- to 8-inch pot beautifully with color that never quits.
Coleus germinates readily and grows eagerly. For bushier, fuller plants, keep the growing tips pinched. To extend the lush color into fall, remove any stray flower spikes that emergethey take energy away from maintaining the gorgeous foliage, and the flowers are insignificant. If growing in the garden, sow about 10 inches apart. If growing indoors for houseplants, sow at any time, placing the young plants in a well-lit window.
