Yesterday I was driving home a day after one of our typical heavy rainstorms
(big oaks fall down, 100.000 people lose power, etc.) and nearly skidded to a
halt at the sight of a plant I'd never seen before--about 3 feet high and
almost as wide, bright magenta, lemon yellow and touches of green. Omigod--the
storm had also torn off a good sized piece onto the sidewalk and it wasn't yet
wilted. I parked the car and made off with the fallen stem. Now I have time
to look at it I think it's some sort of coleus, but not like one I've ever
seen--even Alabama Sunset. AKA Bellingrath Pink, etc. The smallest leaves are
lemon yellow, almost chartreus; the medium ones are a hot, hot magenta and the
largest of all are dark green with a magenta tinge to the underside. The edges
are slightly scalloped, but the leaves are also sort of wavy and not as firm as
coleus usually is. And some of the yellow and the magenta leaves still have
dark green tips. The whole plant had a bushy, uprushing, assymetrical
appearance and was in full sun. Any guesses as to what I rescued and am going
to try to propagate?
zemedelec

Zemedelec wrote:
Yesterday I was driving home a day after one of our typical heavy rainstorms
(big oaks fall down, 100.000 people lose power, etc.) and nearly skidded to a
halt at the sight of a plant I'd never seen before--about 3 feet high and
almost as wide, bright magenta, lemon yellow and touches of green. Omigod--the
storm had also torn off a good sized piece onto the sidewalk and it wasn't yet
wilted. I parked the car and made off with the fallen stem. Now I have time
to look at it I think it's some sort of coleus, but not like one I've ever
seen--even Alabama Sunset. AKA Bellingrath Pink, etc. The smallest leaves are
lemon yellow, almost chartreus; the medium ones are a hot, hot magenta and the
largest of all are dark green with a magenta tinge to the underside. The edges
are slightly scalloped, but the leaves are also sort of wavy and not as firm as
coleus usually is. And some of the yellow and the magenta leaves still have
dark green tips. The whole plant had a bushy, uprushing, assymetrical
appearance and was in full sun. Any guesses as to what I rescued and am going
to try to propagate?
zemedelec

Could it be an Amaranthus tri color sometimes referred to as
Joseph's Coat.

--
Bonnie
NJ
http://home.earthlink.net/~maebe43/

On Fri, 04 Jul 2003 14:31:36 -0400, Bonnie Espenshade wrote:

Zemedelec wrote:
Yesterday I was driving home a day after one of our typical heavy
rainstorms (big oaks fall down, 100.000 people lose power, etc.) and
nearly skidded to a halt at the sight of a plant I'd never seen
before--about 3 feet high and almost as wide, bright magenta, lemon
yellow and touches of green. Omigod--the storm had also torn off a good
sized piece onto the sidewalk and it wasn't yet wilted. I parked the
car and made off with the fallen stem. Now I have time to look at it I
think it's some sort of coleus, but not like one I've ever seen--even
Alabama Sunset. AKA Bellingrath Pink, etc. The smallest leaves are
lemon yellow, almost chartreus; the medium ones are a hot, hot magenta
and the largest of all are dark green with a magenta tinge to the
underside. The edges are slightly scalloped, but the leaves are also
sort of wavy and not as firm as coleus usually is. And some of the
yellow and the magenta leaves still have dark green tips. The whole
plant had a bushy, uprushing, assymetrical appearance and was in full
sun. Any guesses as to what I rescued and am going to try to propagate?
zemedelec

Could it be an Amaranthus tri color sometimes referred to as Joseph's
Coat.


Otherwize known as the summer pointsetta. The seeds are VERY TINY but they
are fairly easy to start. VERY cool plant!

Any guesses as to what I rescued and am going to try to propagate?
zemedelec

Could it be an Amaranthus tri color sometimes referred to as Joseph's
Coat.


Otherwize known as the summer pointsetta. The seeds are VERY TINY but they
are fairly easy to start. VERY cool plant!



Thanks to both of you! I was going to start it from cuttings--seeds don't seem
to like me (with the exception of marigolds and zinnias) but this is such a
spectacular creature that I'll check it out again for seeds.



zemedelec