This charming plant comes in a range of colors and sizes.
Joseph’s coat plants make a wonderful accent in any garden setting and can work well as showy houseplants.
With several hundred species available, these plants offer many different leaf shapes, sizes, and textures.
Credit: Dean Schoeppner
Plant them in full sun for the best and brightest foliage colors.
If this is the case for you, give Joseph’s coat a try.
Others still have unique crinkled foliage, and some have multicolored leaves.
Credit: Dean Schoeppner
It grows as a perennial only in Zones 10 and 11.
A full-sun location is preferred to bring out the colors in the foliage.
Using your hands, loosen the roots if crowded in the container.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Settle the plant in the hole and backfill with the amended garden soil.
Water the plant deeply to eliminate any air pockets.
Mark the location because you won’t see new growth until spring.
Credit: David Speer
Indoors, give them a bright window with as much direct light as possible.
Joseph’s coat plants don’t like standing water but enjoy consistent moisture.
It grows best in temperatures between 65F and 75F in moist, not wet, soil.
Credit: Tom McWilliam
Indoors, keep Joseph’s coat in a warm, sunny room and mist it regularly.
Alternatively, fill a saucer with pebbles and water and place the plant on top of it.
For the amount to use, follow product label directions.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Select a container with good drainage that is about 2 inches larger in diameter than your nursery pot.
Pests and Problems
In the garden,slugsand caterpillars may show up on your plants.
Just pluck them off by hand.
Joseph’s coat can be infested by spider mites or aphids when grown outside or inside.
Apply insecticidal soap to the plant as soon as you see the hungry pests.
Set out the seedlings after the last frost of spring.
If you prefer togrow from seed, start in late winter or very early spring.
Press each seed 1/8 inch into seed-starting mix in a small pot and water the pot.
It’s the perfect plant for adding bright color to hot, sunny spaces.
This tough plant blooms all summer long with spirelike spikes of blooms.
While all varieties are beautiful, keep an eye out for thesweetly scented selections.
While most gardeners treat angelonia as an annual, it is a tough perennial in Zones 9-10.
Dusty Miller
Dusty miller is a favorite becauseit looks good with everything.
Fountaingrass
Like many grasses,fountaingrass is spectacularwhen backlit by the rising or setting sun.
This plant self-seeds freely, sometimes to the point of becoming invasive.
Fertilize every three months with a fish emulsion fertilizer, following the product directions.
Joseph’s coat is prized for its colorful foliage.
