How and When to Plant Coleus Coleus are not tolerant of frost at all. They prefer warm temperatures and won’t grow until the weather is mild.

Technically, coleus plants are tender perennials that can live for more than one year in ideal conditions. Still, most gardeners grow them as annuals that die once freezing temperatures arrive.

In all its varieties, coleus is very well-behaved. Some mass and mound nicely, like a giant mushroom cap. Others creep elegantly along the ground, hang well in baskets or spill gracefully out of pots.

Maggie Lee - July 1, 2022 Coleus shimmer with most all the pinks and greens and yellows of other flowers—without a single bloom Photograph by Patty C. / iStock / Getty Images Plus ...

Some coleus varieties do best in partial shade, such as the Wizard series and the Kong series. These days, most of the coleuses you find at the nursery will thrive in full sun as well as part shade.