These easy-to-care-for annuals provide this fancy foliage until the frost will strike them down. Near the end of the season, I allow them to flower (something I prevent from happening earlier by pinching off the buds. This allows for bushier plants and a longer look for freshness. While flowering is pretty, it zaps a great deal of energy from the plant. A number of plants expire after flowering and going to seed. It takes that much energy.) By September, there’s no point in prolonging the inevitable, and so I let them develop their buds and flower.
In the case of this coleus, the blooms will be insubstantial, but interesting. They come in a blue-purple hue that contrasts dramatically with its foliage. Salvia-like and spiky, they are better viewed up-close. If these manage to make it out before the frost, I’ll try to capture the final show.
