Ivydene Gardens Photo coleus Gallery:
Photos taken by Chris Garnons-Williams using a digital camera in the original size and as a thumbnail.
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Row 1 (Odd Row) has the Pass-Through Camera image of Thumbnail image named in Row 2 Row 2 (Even Row) has same image reduced to fit the image frame of 400 x 300 pixels as a Click on either image and drag to your desktop. Copying the pages and then clicking on the images to drag them may not work. |
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Solenostemon scutellarioides from Plants & Flowers by Plants Rescue:- "Common name: Flame Nettle, Painted Nettle, Coleus, Painted Leaf, Poor Man’s Croton, Jewels of the Garden Family: Lamiaceae Synonymous: Coleus blumei
Distribution and habitat: Solenostemon scutellarioides is native to south east Asia and Malaysia. Growing to 60–75cm (24–30 inch) tall and wide, it is a bushy, woody-based evergreen perennial, widely grown for its highly decorative variegated leaves. It has been assiduously hybridized over the years into a very large number of vegetative propagated and seed propagated strains with an almost infinite number of leaf color combinations including most colors of the spectrum except true blue. Description: Although Solenostemon scutellarioides plants are perennials, many growers treat them as temporary foliage plants, to be enjoyed and then discarded when past their best. This is because they are sometimes difficult to overwinter and also because they are easy to grow from cuttings. Their soft, rather thin leaves very considerably in shape, size and colour (which can be almost any shape of yellow, red, orange, green or brown or a mixture of three or more of these). Solenostemon scutellarioides plants have opposite leaves and blue to lilac colored flower spikes. Such flowers as they produce have little decorative value and are best nipped out when they are still developing; this procedure will help to keep the plants bushy. Solenostemon scutellarioides is the only species of Solenostemon commonly grown as indoor plant. Some of its forms have hart-shaped leaves and others have slender, sometimes contorted pendulous leaves. Young seedlings only 2-5cm (0.8-2 inch) high, but already showing their true colour, can be bought in spring and these may grow into 60cm (24 inch) tall plants in one season. Named hybrids of this species are also frequently available. Houseplant care: All Solenostemon scutellarioides should have their growing tips nipped out regularly to help them remain bushy. The flowers are best pinched out before they form to keep the plant in good shape. If the plant is kept for a second season, prune it back to about one third of its original size in late winter or very beginning of spring. Light: Provide bright light at all times – including several hours a day of direct sunlight, if possible. Insufficient light will result in spindly growth. Temperatures: Solenostemon scutellarioides do well in warm rooms. In temperatures above 18°C (64°F), though, the air should be humidified by standing plants on trays of damp pebbles or moist peat moss. If the temperature is allowed to fall much bellow 13°C (55°F) leaves are in danger of wilting and dropping down. Watering: These plants should be watered plentifully as often as necessary to keep the potting mixture thoroughly moist. If the mixture is permitted to dry out even for a short period, the leaves of Solenostemon scutellarioides will collapse; and although plants may appear to recover fully when they are watered once more the lower leaves will probably still drop off. If the plant is being kept over winter then reduce watering and keep this plant on the dry side. Avoid getting the velvety leaves wet. Hard water will cause white spots which cannot be washed off. Always use room-temperature water when watering these houseplants. Feeding: Apply a liquid fertiliser about every two weeks throughout the active growth period. Potting and repotting: Use a soil based potting mixture. Young plants should be moved every two months into pots two size larger. Solenostemon scutellarioides should not be underpotted; they need room for their active roots to develop freely. Gardening: Solenostemon scutellarioides plants are frost tender, so in most climates, they are grown as annuals. They are heat-tolerant, but they do less well in full sun in subtropical areas than in the shade. In mild areas (no snow in winter), plants can usually be kept as perennials if well managed. In colder areas, they are often grown as annuals, since the plants are not hardy and become leggy with age. Location: Plant Solenostemon scutellarioides plants in partial shade setting. In hot areas, the colors of the plant are likely to be more intense when it is planted in shaded areas rather than in full sun. Also, the plants will require less water in shaded than in full sun position. Soil: Solenostemon scutellarioides prefers fertile, evenly moist, well-draining soil. It is adapted to chalk, clay, clay loam, loam, loamy sand, peat, sandy clay, sandy clay loam and sandy loam soils. Irrigation: It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth, but will die in standing water. If the soil is allowed to dry out, the foliage will wilt, but normally will recover quickly when water is provided. Water your plants thoroughly at planting time. Propagation: Young, freshly rooted plants overwinter much better than older plants. Tip cuttings about 5-8cm (2-3 inch) long taken in early autumn will root easily either in the standard potting mixture or water. Seed propagation is also possible, but they will not come true from seeds. Problems: Usually problems appear as the result of incorrect treatment of the plant. In hot, dry rooms red spider mites can cause discolouration and leaf withering. Leaf fall indicates that the plant is in a poor light position. Straggly growth may also be due to poor light or it may occur as a consequence of failure to pinch out the growing tips. Uses and display: Solenostemon scutellarioides has the most incredible foliage with colors and color combinations that no other plant species can offer. The leaves are gorgeous with their frilly edges and unique color patterns. These plants are easy-care, versatile and their foliage colour, again, can only be described as spectacular! They combine well with flowering annuals to create more texture and interest or it is a great stand-alone in a container or bed. These plants can be used for group or mass as garden annuals in beds and borders; pots, containers, window boxes, hanging baskets; houseplants."
From iGarden Home of The Compulsive Gardener in Australia:- Plectranthus scutellarioides is cultivated outdoors in subtropical and tropical regions. It can only tolerate occasional very light frosts. International Coleus Society Cultivar Trials and Registration: For the Year 2016 by Laurence C. Hatch. International Coleus Society. This 104 page guide is the State of the Genus report in the genus Coleus, an important group of tropical, annual bedding plants and house plants. This 2016 update covers the full array of named, unnamed, and trademarked clones evaluated by the International Coleus Society in their "real world" containerized trial garden. It also covers the last two years of cultivar registrations up to #1551 (added December 2016) with detailed descriptions and very large, high-resolution, digital images. Many cultivars have never been published before and several appear no where else in literature. Can Coleus be planted in Water? Article by Home Guides:- Where have all the Coleus gone? by the Frustrated Gardener. |
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Single Flowers provide honeybees with pollen to collect for the protein in a bee's diet, whereas double flowers do not provide this pollen. |
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"The archetypal flower reads from outside in – sepals (often green), then petals, male stamen and finally the central female parts. In the single dahlia stamens with their yellow pollen which is available for honeybees to collect, can be seen clearly. Pollen provides most of the protein in a bee’s diet. Double flowers, stamens have been transformed into extra petals for a fuller, showier bloom. The lack of pollen means pollination cannot occur and the flower remains open for longer, waiting. Both of these features have made double flowers attractive to horticulturists and much energy has been put into breeding double varieties. Highly bred cultivars are much more likely to be doubles than their species (natural) counterparts. Plants with the name ‘flore pleno’ should ring warning bells as it means ‘with a full flower’ and will almost certainly mean it is a double. Nectaries (rarely visible) store nectar which provides the carbohydrate part of a bee’s diet. They are easier to access in single flowers than in doubles. Some plant species are good honey bee plants in their single form but not when bred as doubles: Hawthorn (Crataegus ‘Paul’s Scarlet‘), Japanese anemones (Anemone x hybrida), Geums – semi-double cultivars ‘Miss Bradshaw’ and ‘Lady Stratheden’, Cinquefoil (Potentilla), Clematis (such as the strange ‘Viennetta’) and Hollyhock (Alcea rosea). For rose fans you may want to learn that only the species roses (Dog rose Rosa canina and R. rugosa) offer food (pollen only) for honeybees. It is understandable that having as much colour, for as long as possible, has been a priority in British gardens prone as they are to the blanketing green of a wet summer. The fact that plant breeding has followed the demand of gardeners makes simple economic sense. It is nature that is beginning to suffer however. Breeding away pollen serves neither the plant species, as it can’t reproduce itself, nor the insects whose main source of protein it is. The question is, can designers influence public taste sufficiently for nurseries to change their ways or would it put the breeders out of a job?" from Beeginner Beekeeper.
Anagallis monellii 'Skylover Blue' has Single Flowers
whereas Dahlia 'Blue Wish' has Double Flowers (details about Double Flowers in row further down), which has many more petals:-
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The following details come from Cactus Art:- "A flower is the the complex sexual reproductive structure of Angiosperms, typically consisting of an axis bearing perianth parts, androecium (male) and gynoecium (female). Bisexual flower show four distinctive parts arranged in rings inside each other which are technically modified leaves: Sepal, petal, stamen & pistil. This flower is referred to as complete (with all four parts) and perfect (with "male" stamens and "female" pistil). The ovary ripens into a fruit and the ovules inside develop into seeds. Incomplete flowers are lacking one or more of the four main parts. Imperfect (unisexual) flowers contain a pistil or stamens, but not both. The colourful parts of a flower and its scent attract pollinators and guide them to the nectary, usually at the base of the flower tube.
Androecium (male Parts or stamens) Gynoecium (female Parts or carpels or pistil) It is made up of the stigma, style, and ovary. Each pistil is constructed of one to many rolled leaflike structures. Stigma This is the part of the pistil which receives the pollen grains and on which they germinate. Style This is the long stalk that the stigma sits on top of. Ovary The part of the plant that contains the ovules. Ovule The part of the ovary that becomes the seeds. Petal The colorful, often bright part of the flower (corolla). Sepal The parts that look like little green leaves that cover the outside of a flower bud (calix). (Undifferentiated "Perianth segment" that are not clearly differentiated into sepals and petals, take the names of tepals.)"
The following details come from Nectary Genomics:- "NECTAR. Many flowering plants attract potential pollinators by offering a reward of floral nectar. The primary solutes found in most nectars are varying ratios of sucrose, glucose and fructose, which can range from as little a 8% (w/w) in some species to as high as 80% in others. This abundance of simple sugars has resulted in the general perception that nectar consists of little more than sugar-water; however, numerous studies indicate that it is actually a complex mixture of components. Additional compounds found in a variety of nectars include other sugars, all 20 standard amino acids, phenolics, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenes, vitamins, organic acids, oils, free fatty acids, metal ions and proteins. NECTARIES. An organ known as the floral nectary is responsible for producing the complex mixture of compounds found in nectar. Nectaries can occur in different areas of flowers, and often take on diverse forms in different species, even to the point of being used for taxonomic purposes. Nectaries undergo remarkable morphological and metabolic changes during the course of floral development. For example, it is known that pre-secretory nectaries in a number of species accumulate large amounts of starch, which is followed by a rapid degradation of amyloplast granules just prior to anthesis and nectar secretion. These sugars presumably serve as a source of nectar carbohydrate. WHY STUDY NECTAR? Nearly one-third of all worldwide crops are dependent on animals to achieve efficient pollination. In addition, U.S. pollinator-dependent crops have been estimated to have an annual value of up to $15 billion. Many crop species are largely self-incompatible (not self-fertile) and almost entirely on animal pollinators to achieve full fecundity; poor pollinator visitation has been reported to reduce yields of certain species by up to 50%." |
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Further details on other plants, which are bee-pollinated rather than wind-pollinated:- |
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Bee-Pollinated Bloom Plant Index. Click on the OOO in the Index below to link to those bee-pollinated plants of that flower colour in that month or any of Enumber indicates Empty Index Page. |
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Inner circle of Grey is 12 months of Unusual or Multi-Coloured Flower Colour |
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Bulb and Perennial Height from Text Border |
Brown = 0-12 inches (0-30 cms) |
Blue = 12-24 inches (30-60 cms) |
Green = 24-36 inches (60-90 cms) |
Red = 36-72 inches (90- 180 cms) |
Black = 72+ inches (180+ cms) |
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Shrub Height from Text Border |
Brown = 0-12 inches (0-30 cms) |
Blue = 12-36 inches (30-90 cms) |
Green = 36-60 inches (90- 150 cms) |
Red = 60-120 inches (150- 300 cms) |
Black = 120+ inches (300+ cms) |
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Tree Height from Text Border |
Brown = 0-240 inches (0- 600 cms) |
Blue = 240- 480 inches (600- 1200 cms) |
Green = 480+ inches (1200 + cms) |
Red = Potted |
Black = Use in Small Garden |
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Climber Height from Text Border |
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Blue = 0-36 inches (0-90 cms) |
Green = 36-120 inches (90-300 cms) |
Red = 120+ inches (300+ cms) |
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Bamboo, Bedding, Conifer, Fern, Grass, Herb, Rhododendron, Rose, Soft Fruit, Top Fruit, Vegetable and Wildflower Height from Text Border |
Blue = 0-24 inches (0-60 cms) |
Green = 24-72 inches (60- 180 cms) |
Red = 72+ inches (180+ cms) |
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Plant Soil Moisture from Text Background |
Wet Soil |
Moist Soil |
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Dry Soil |
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"Soils vary enormously in characteristics, but the size of the particles that make up a soil defines its gardening characteristics:
The dominating particle size gives soil its characteristics and because the tiny clay particles have a huge surface area for a given volume of clay they dominate the other particles: Clay soils have over 25 percent clay. Also known as heavy soils, these are potentially fertile as they hold nutrients bound to the clay minerals in the soil. But they also hold a high proportion of water due to the capillary attraction of the tiny spaces between the numerous clay particles. They drain slowly and take longer to warm up in spring than sandy soils. Clay soils are easily compacted when trodden on while wet and they bake hard in summer, often cracking noticeably. Sandy soils have high proportion of sand and little clay. Also known as light soils, these soils drain quickly after rain or watering, are easy to cultivate and work. They warm up more quickly in spring than clay soils. But on the downside, they dry out quickly and are low in plant nutrients, which are quickly washed out by rain. Sandy soils are often very acidic. Silt soils, comprised mainly of intermediate sized particles, are fertile, fairly well drained and hold more moisture than sandy soils, but are easily compacted Loams are comprised of a mixture of clay, sand and silt that avoid the extremes of clay or sandy soils and are fertile, well-drained and easily worked. They can be clay-loam or sandy-loam depending on their predominant composition and cultivation characteristics. Peat soils are mainly organic matter and are usually very fertile and hold much moisture. They are seldom found in gardens. Chalky or lime-rich soils may be light or heavy but are largely made up of calcium carbonate and are very alkaline." from Royal Horticultural Society . |
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The following details about DOUBLE FLOWERS comes from Wikipedia:- "Double-flowered" describes varieties of flowers with extra petals, often containing flowers within flowers. The double-flowered trait is often noted alongside the scientific name with the abbreviation fl. pl. (flore pleno, a Latin ablative form meaning "with full flower"). The first abnormality to be documented in flowers, double flowers are popular varieties of many commercial flower types, including roses, camellias and carnations. In some double-flowered varieties all of the reproductive organs are converted to petals — as a result, they are sexually sterile and must be propagated through cuttings. Many double-flowered plants have little wildlife value as access to the nectaries is typically blocked by the mutation.
There is further photographic, diagramatic and text about Double Flowers from an education department - dept.ca.uky.edu - in the University of Kentucky in America.
"Meet the plant hunter obsessed with double-flowering blooms" - an article from The Telegraph. |
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"From elaborate public garden designs and street planters to the smallest front garden, bedding plants provide a temporary decorative seasonal display for beds, borders, containers and hanging baskets. Bedding can be grown from seed, bought as young seedlings (plug plants) or purchased as pot-grown specimens, often in multi-packs and cellular trays, ready for planting." from Bedding plants and displays page by the Royal Horticultural Society. Some of the Mail-order suppliers of bedding plants:-
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Picture Folder Name Pages:- Since 14 June 2019 I have also started to put my own full-sized 4000 x 3000 digital Camera images into the relevant topics in this website again for use in the Public Domain - since there may be 9 or more to a page the resulting
Bedding Gallery has
Topic - Flower/Foliage Colour |
List of Pictures in a Picture Folder:- Coleus bedding foliage trial in Plant Trials Field in Garden at Wisley on 2 October 2013, with link to mail-order supplier(s). See In the UK, they are grown mostly for the vibrant colour of their leaves, sometimes 3 contrasting colours appear together, with no 2 leaves exactly alike. Colours include yellow, red, orange, lime green, dark green, and mahogany. The decorative appearance of the leaves is often enhanced by scalloped or ruffled margins. Popular for beds and borders, also containers, including hanging baskets.
Page 1 Page 10 Page 17 Coleus Bedding Trial Index |
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I have copied the archived post below, because what is stated there is extremely important, since 99.99% of gardeners in the UK totally ignore the fact that plants require humus and think that double-digging is beneficial every year. That is why they are killing their soil and their plants do not grow well. How Soil Works in the Category Archives: Flowering House Plants of Houseplantsguru. com:- "Nature’s plan is to build up the humus year after year and this can only be done by organic matter. There is need to replace and return that which has been taken out. The Chinese, who are the best gardeners, collect, ‘use’, and return to the soil, every possible kind of waste, vegetable, animal and human. In over 4000 years of intensive cultivation they still support more human beings per hectare than any other country in the world! On the other hand in areas like the Middle West of the U.S.A. And the Regina Plain of Canada, where the Wheel of Life has not been recognized, tens of thousands of hectares which once grew heavy crops are now useless, or practically so. Every flower crop grown reduces the organic content of the ground. Every piece of work done helps to break down the humus. The value of the soil in your garden, therefore, is not the mica particles or grains of sand. It lies in the humus that the soil contains. Humus makes all the difference to successful gardening. Have plenty of humus present and the soil is in good tilth. Humus is the organic colloid of the soil. It can store water, it can store plant foods, it can help to keep the soil open. It can help to ensure the right aeration. It will give ideal insulation against heat and cold. Using Compost Garden owners proposing to dig their land shallowly in preparation for flower growing, should realize the importance of adding ample quantities of organic matter before they start. Composted farmyard manure, fine wool shoddy, properly composted vegetable refuse, or hop manure should be added at the rate of one good barrow-load to 10 m2 (12 sq yds) and in addition into the top 25 or 50 mm (1 or 2 in) of soil finely divided sedge peat, non-acid in character should be raked in at about half a bucketful (9 litres) per square metre (2 gallons per sq yd). This organic matter in the top few millimetres of soil gives the little roots a good start and so sends them on to find the organic matter below. It is when the organic content of the soil has been helped in this way, that the gardener dares to add plant foods of an organic origin. These are usually applied on the surface of the ground and raked in. Fertilizers with an organic base are particularly useful. Fish Manure may be applied at 105 to 140 g/m2 (3 oz to 4 oz per sq yd), or a meat and bone meal or even hoof and horn meal mixed with equal quantities of wood ashes may be used at a similar rate. These plant foods can be supplied not only when the flower garden is first made but every season very early in the spring. A good dried poultry manure to which a little potash has been added is another fertilizer that is very useful when applied at this time. Minimum Digging Flower growers must realize that proper soil treatment is the first essential to success. The millions and millions of soil bacteria that live in the ground to help the gardener, much appreciate little or no digging. It enables them to work better, for they need conditions which are natural. So do give them what they need. Liming Lime should be regarded as an essential except in very definite cases where acidity is demanded, e.g. the heaths and heathers, rhododendrons and azaleas. Lime not only prevents soil from being acid but it ‘sweetens’ it, as well as playing its part as a plant food. It improves the texture and workability of heavy soils. It helps to release other plant foods, and it decomposes organic compounds in the soil so that they can be used as plant food also. Generally speaking it should be applied at about 245 g/m2 (7 oz per sq yd). It should not be dug in, as it washes down into the soil very quickly. It should be sprinkled on the surface of the ground after the digging and manuring has been done. Do not mix lime with organic fertilizers. There are three main types of lime: Quicklime, sometimes sold as Buxton Lime or Lump Lime, which has to be slaked down on the soil; Chalk or Limestone, often sold as Ground Limestone, only half as valuable as quicklime; and Hydrated Lime, which is perhaps the most convenient to handle and is therefore most usually used by gardeners. The quantity of lime mentioned previously i.e. 245 g/m2 (7 oz per sq yd), refers to hydrated lime."
The following is the opinion of Chris Garnons-Williams to the above:- If you walk through an old wooded area, which is not intensively managed, you will see dead leaves on the ground, together with fallen branches, brambles, nettles, other weeds and juvenile plants. There will be waste material from birds and animals and this has not been cleared up and disposed of. This mulch then provides the organic material to be recycled via the ground with its different organisms to the roots of those same trees for them to continue to grow. Nobody digs up the ground to push this material in a few inches or to the depth of the topsoil, nature does it with earthworms and other organisms at the rate required by the organisms down below to then use it. The trees in this wood then grow fairly uniformly using the available resources. So, do not dig the manure, wool shoddy, vegetable refuse or hop manure or anything else in. Leave it on top as a mulch and that includes the organic fertilizers and the lime. The topsoil is full of organisms, either the waste products from are used by another or they are. If you turn them up from the bottom of the topsoil to the top, then those new top ones will starve to death and the ones who were at the top are now at the bottom and they will as well since it is only waste down there which is not their normal fare. They do have a bus transport system to get them back to their original levels, since water is the only transport system down there, which unfortunately normally goes downwards. So why do you not use the companion planting cultivation method as further detailed in Companion Planting? You may follow this with the following which is normally used for the vegetable garden:- "Spinach is sown in spring in rows 50cm apart over the whole vegetable garden area for the following purposes:
This could be used in the flower beds as the system between the permanent plants of trees, shrubs and perennials, which is where you may put bedding. This will also provide you with access to the bedding and the permanent plants together with the nitrogen fertilizer for the other plants from the legumes of spinach. |
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