When gardening in our backyard, the plants and the flowers take center stage.
Flowers are a wonderful way to provide color in the landscape. However, some flowers are short-lived.

It’s a wait-all year for their floral celebration. For those of us who crave color as long as we can have it, we do have some foliage options.
One is the sun-loving coleus plant that provides lots of show for very little dough.
Let’s be honest! The coleus flower is nothing to get excited about. In fact, it is recommended to deadhead the blooms.
But in the ground or a potted coleus makes a colorful display with a rainbow of color options. More in our article on how to start coleus from seed.
Another no bloom plant for color is Cordyline fruticosa known also as Cordyline terminalis but most know it as the “Hawaiian Cordyline Plant” and it has many new varieties.
Some of the popular names to look for are:
- Cordyline Electric Pink
- Cordyline Red Sensation
- Cordyline Red Sister Plant
- Cordyline Red Star

The Cordyline is an outstanding and durable plant used for its striking foliage.
When mature the crown of its palmlike leaves sits atop a cane or trunk which may grow to a height of 12′ ft. or more outdoors in warm climates.
They make excellent upright potted specimens for use on decks and the patio.
Potted Cordylines, grow considerably less in height when pots restrict the roots. Cordylines differ from Dracaenas, but care is much like Dracaena culture.

For example, Robbie Caponetto was a gardening newbie and wanted a colorful garden he could easily maintain. He’s created a world filled with easy-to-grow eye-popping foliage.
As you can plainly see in the picture, tall colocasia elephant ear plants, one of the varieties looks like the “Black Magic elephant ear” and lots of bright, colorful coleus plants.
For more on Robbie’s colorful approach and using coleus, read the full article at Southern Living