Coleus

Most gardeners still know the familiar flame nettle as Coleus blumei, but this is not the first name-change the plant has experienced. There were once hundreds of cultivars, often with extraordinary markings, but most have been lost to cultivation. New ones are being produced once more, mainly for greenhouse and conservatory use, but there are coleus seed varieties that have always been around for bedding use. The Rainbow Series is one of the brightest and most reliable, with a wide range of colours and brilliant patterns, many of them unique to the series.