by KYW's Fran Sorin

For those of you who love to fill your garden beds and containers with swathes of psychedelic and bold coleus, now is the time to start shopping for them.

It may seem early in the season to start purchasing these tender annuals but it’s not, if you can find the ones you want.  Outside of coleus’ stark raving beauty, another benefit is that they root so easily in water. That means that if you buy one plant now, leave it alone for the next 4 weeks and then begin to take cuttings, you could literally have 1-2 dozen of the same plants by the time you are ready to plant them out in the spring.  Minimally, each of these plants costs $3-4.  Need I say more?

Contact Fran Sorin at fransorin.com.