Over the last four years I've had various coleus cultivars on trial, about 3 dozen per year, for a total of 109 to date. These are planted outdoors in summer, overwintered from cuttings in our UVM greenhouses. They serve as stock for teaching in various courses, photographs for teaching, educational display at the Champlain Valley Fair, and observation of habit and performance. This past winter (2002-2003) in the greenhouse we had 4 plants for most of the following cultivars, mixed up randomly on a bench, with 2 rootbound and slightly woody plants, 2 vigorous succulent plants.
Of course one of the main pests of coleus, mainly found on plants indoors
not outdoors, is mealybug. In the past, as this year, we've noticed they
seem to prefer certain cultivars over others. Often they seem to be found
on all plants of a particular cultivar, and on no plants of others. My
grad student Andrea Luchini and I recently observed and noted which cultivars
had mealybugs (y) or not (n). This of course may vary with year, strain
of mealybug, and vigor of plants (more vigorous seem to be more succulent
and so more attractive to these insects). So while these results are not
absolute, they should serve as a guide to some cultivars which may be less
prone to mealybugs and so easier to maintain.
| Cultivar | foliage; comments | mealybugs |
| Atlas | large, purple, green center | y |
| Aurora | light pink, green margins | y |
| Bloodshot | green and pink, dark veins | y |
| Blusher | rose, light veins | n |
| Brocade | ruffled, dark red | n |
| Camillia | pink and green; heirloom | n |
| Chartreuse | green-yellow | y |
| Concord | raspberry red | n |
| Copacetic | pastel yellow | y |
| Copper Glow | copper orange | n |
| Crazy Quilt | light and dark red | y |
| Dark Frills | low, pink, dark centers | n |
| Dark Star | purplish black | y |
| Downer's Ribbons | purple, pink center, green edge | n |
| Downer's Ribbons sport | red-purple; from UVM plants 2002 | y |
| Eclipse | red, pink blush | y |
| Ella Cinders | purple and olive | y |
| Flirtin Skirts | scalloped, gold to pink | n |
| Freckles (PW) | green, red spots | n |
| Glennis | green, dark veins | y |
| Inky Fingers | green, dark red and purple | y |
| Kathryn Rose | dark rose | n |
| Kid Charlemagne | green, purple veins, white flecks | n |
| Live Wire | green, red spots | y |
| Lord Voldemort | green, dark patterns and stems | n |
| Molton Orange | orange, green edge | y |
| Oompha | small, green, purple center | n |
| Othello | dark black-purple, ruffled | y |
| Paisley Shaw (Shawl) | green, white red, toothed | y |
| Penny | coppery olive, ruffled | y |
| Red Ruffles | rose red, heirloom | y |
| Schizophrenia | purple, red, tan | n |
| Sky Fire (PW) | red,. dark center, yellow edge | y |
| Skyrocket | red, yellow edge | y |
| Solar Flair | purple, green margin | n |
| Stained Glass | dark red, light center | y |
| Thumbelina | small, green, purple | n |
| Tilt a Whirl | copper, red, furled | n |
| Violet Tricolor | purple, green red | y |
(PW indicates part of the Proven Winners program; foliage color may vary with light intensity, fertility, and age of the plant.)
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