Coleus: The Indispensable Garden Accent Plant for Vibrant Color
Much like the perfect patterned textile or a few well-chosen cushions can transform a living space, coleus serves a similar function in the garden. This remarkable foliage plant, celebrated for its kaleidoscopic leaf varieties, offers an unparalleled spectrum of hues and patterns. It’s challenging to name another genus that exhibits such a diverse array of colors, concentrated so vividly within its foliage. Coleus’s seemingly limitless genetic expressions provide inspiration for gardeners designing containers or entire garden beds, delivering continuous color throughout the frost-free seasons.
For Chris Baker, a seasoned nursery professional and dedicated coleus hybridizer, these plants have not only shaped his career but also enriched his life with vibrant colors.
Grandma Gert’s Influence: A Coleus Origin Story
Mr. Baker fondly remembers the windowsill above his grandmother Gert’s kitchen sink, a space perpetually adorned with a glass jar nurturing the latest coleus cuttings. Grandma Gert’s propagation efforts, showcasing the plant’s “crazy colors” – which he likens to the botanical equivalent of a Hawaiian shirt – made a lasting impression. This early exposure remained etched in his memory decades later when he began propagating coleus himself, albeit in a greenhouse rather than a windowsill.
From Rock Star Aspirations to Greenhouse Cultivation
Mr. Baker’s path to becoming a nurseryman and ultimately a coleus breeder was not direct. After graduating with a music degree from Ohio State University, his initial ambition was to achieve “rock star” status.
“It didn’t quite pan out,” he admitted. “So I drove a taxi to make ends meet, and an unsettling incident one night involving a firearm prompted me to reconsider my career path.”
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A position at a greenhouse marked his first step into horticulture. Eventually, in 1982, he and his wife, Nancy, established their own garden center in Alexandria, Ohio, near Columbus. Today, their son, Nick, and daughter-in-law, Pam, manage the family enterprise, Baker’s Acres Greenhouse. However, one greenhouse remains Chris Baker’s personal sanctuary, overflowing with his cherished coleus genus, including numerous varieties he has hybridized, such as Cosmic Nick and Pam’s Glam, along with cultivars named after other family members.
The Evolution of a Coleus Hybridizer
Mr. Baker’s foray into breeding began with a generous gift of surplus plants from two friends: Ken Frieling, a fellow coleus breeder who passed away in May, and Mr. Frieling’s partner, Tom Winn, who died in 2013. They were the proprietors of Glasshouse Works, a respected rare-plant nursery in Stewart, Ohio. Approximately 25 years ago, in September, Mr. Frieling offered Mr. Baker some mature stock plants – plants he had utilized for cuttings to expand his nursery stock – that were no longer needed. He inquired if Mr. Baker would like to take them before the arrival of frost.
At Baker’s Acres, these plants were placed in a retail greenhouse that was closed for the off-season. The rescued plants, still bearing flowers, produced seeds and self-sowed abundantly into the greenhouse floor.
“All the seeds landed in the paver cracks,” Mr. Baker recounted, “and numerous tiny seedlings emerged. I was intrigued and thought, ‘Look at that.’ That was the genesis of my breeding journey. I selected some particularly promising seedlings and gave them names.”
Observing these seedlings sparked an idea: “What if you cross this variety with that one?” He proceeded to experiment, utilizing a magnifying glass and a fine paintbrush to transfer pollen between plants in his initial deliberate hybridization attempts.
The hybridization process presented challenges. For instance, crossing a reddish-leaved variety with a yellow one did not guarantee an orange progeny. Furthermore, “achieving a robust pink hue that can withstand full sun exposure is a difficult endeavor,” he explained. The manual pollination process could also be laborious.
Embracing Natural Pollination
Subsequently, he positioned plants intended for crossing outdoors. “The bees efficiently handled the pollination for me. The results were comparable, leading me to conclude, ‘This is remarkably efficient.’ I discarded the magnifier and entrusted pollination to bees, and that’s how my current breeding approach evolved.”
Each generation yields a fresh set of possibilities. It becomes the breeder’s decision – the process of selection, fundamental to plant breeding – to determine which individuals advance to the subsequent stage. The scale is considerable: Over the past decade, Mr. Baker estimates he has sown 10,000 to 20,000 seeds annually, “from which I typically identify 10 to 20 exceptional cultivars each year.”
Once a plant of noteworthy merit is identified, he propagates it through cloning – taking cuttings – rather than relying on seeds.
Beyond Color: Expanding Coleus Breeding Objectives
Mr. Baker could have readily stocked his nursery with a vibrant collection of coleus acquired from wholesale suppliers, bypassing years of dedicated effort (but forgoing the thrill of discovery). The International Coleus Society maintains records of over 1,800 named cultivars of Coleus scutellarioides, a member of the mint family native to Southeast Asia and parts of Australia.
Estimates of commercially available varieties range from approximately 400 to 500. He recommends two specialized mail-order sources with extensive selections: Rosy Dawn Gardens in New Hudson, Michigan, offering over 200 varieties, and Taylor Greenhouses in Portland, New York, with around 140.
University Programs and Independent Breeders
The comprehensive breeding program established at the University of Florida in 2003 has significantly impacted the coleus market. Their introductions have been named and commercialized by well-known horticultural wholesale brands, including Ball FloraPlant and Proven Winners.
However, the contributions of smaller, independent breeders like Mr. Baker remain vital for creative diversity within the market and for the ongoing evolution of coleus aesthetics. His greenhouse presently houses approximately 50 of his own cultivars among 125 stock plants utilized for continuous breeding and to propagate inventory for retail sales.
Focus on Form and Function in Coleus Breeding
Contemporary breeders are not solely focused on leaf color; they are also directing efforts toward traits like leaf dimensions and morphology.
Sun Tolerance and Delayed Flowering
Other significant breeding objectives have led to the development of coleus varieties, once predominantly considered shade annuals, that are now adaptable to sunnier garden locations. Breeders are also working to create plants with a delayed inclination to flower, as gardeners primarily value coleus for their foliage. Another breeding target is to produce plants with increased branching and a bushier growth habit.
Branching and Growth Habits
“To encourage branching in older varieties, it was necessary to pinch off the terminal buds,” Mr. Baker explained. “I seem to have inadvertently selected for that genetic trait, as the newer seedlings I am developing now exhibit prolific branching.”
He designated these noteworthy cultivars as his Branch Manager Series. However, appealing aesthetics are not always the sole criterion for naming a variety. “Occasionally, I encounter a seedling that is so uniquely unattractive that it warrants a name,” he quipped, referencing “a black coleus with foliage so unusual that it appears to have been cultivated adjacent to a malfunctioning nuclear reactor.”
Evening in Chernobyl: Naming the Unconventional
This intriguing, if unconventional, cultivar is aptly named Evening in Chernobyl.
Overwintering and Propagating Favorite Coleus
If you discover a coleus variety that captivates you and wish to ensure its presence again next year, Mr. Baker advises bringing the plant indoors before the first autumn frost and placing it near a window, emulating Grandma Gert’s method.
“Around mid-March, simply take a small cutting, about three inches long, and place it in water,” he instructed. “Once the cutting develops approximately an inch of roots, transplant it into soil, and you’ll have a new plant ready for the garden by mid-May. It’s that straightforward.”