That coleus you just bought has science behind it

Coleus, the common bedding plant that supplies splashes of colored foliage to summer gardens and containers, often follows a path from mother plant to landscape that assures the best choice for consumer dollars and growers’ profits. Horticultural scientists at the University of Kentucky and North Carolina State University contributed to that journey this spring through cultivar trials.

In a greenhouse at the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s Horticultural Research Farm, 111 cultivars of coleus grew lush this spring under the careful watch of assistant horticulture professor Garrett Owen, undergraduate student Ty Rich and doctoral graduate student Paul Cockson. The variety trial evaluated cultivars for overall performance and assessed their growth, architecture, color, leaf form and structure, and crop timing. The research plants ranged from trailing cultivars to those that formed tall, upright structures and included at least seven color groups. Ball Horticultural Company, Danziger, Proven Winners, Dümmen Orange and North Carolina Farms donated uprooted cuttings that were propagated in the Controlled Environment Horticulture research unit that Owen leads.

“We looked at what the suppliers deemed were their most popular varieties, so we could provide growers and consumers research-based varietal information,” Rich said.

Owen said it’s important for their research to help growers, providing cultural information from a scientific standpoint that will let growers determine the cultivars best suited for their operations, production system and market.