Two or three varieties can be grown together in the same pot if a variety with upright growth such as Cuban oregano, is pinched back to keep it compact and one of the trailing varieties is allowed to overflow the edges of the pot to create a soft effect.

The trailing varieties also can be used as semi-shade groundcovers, especially useful under trees. Try P. saccatus or P. thyrsoideus (called Flowering Bush Coleus). Nurseries have been known to tag this plant as Blue Plectranthus and even mistakenly sell it as lavender because it has blue, spiking blooms in the summer.

An evergreen native of Fiji, P. forsteri or P. coleoides, is Swedish Ivy that grows upright and then trails. “Marginatus” or Forsters Plectranthus has white margins on larger, citrus-scented leaves. “Aureus variegatus” has green, soft yellow and chartreuse toothed leaves and rarely flowers.

For purple leaves in your garden, choose P. oertendahlii (called Creeping Coleus), and P. fruiticosus.

You may also see Plectranthus sold as spur flower from the Greek words, plektron (spur) and anthos (flower).

P. argentatus is called Silver Spurflower, Silver Shield, Silvery Plectranthus and Brazilian Coleus. Grown for its silver leaves that look like Lamb's Ears and Dusty Miller, it prefers light shade and grows up to 6-feet wide. This is a water-wise selection to brighten up the area under a tree. It is said to survive to 20 degrees. (To fill a half-shade flowerbed in spring, start seeds indoors in late winter.)

P. Mona Lavender, sometimes sold as Spur Flower, is a recent hybrid from Africa (www.plantzafrica.com). Its leaves are dark green on top and eggplant purple on the bottom. It blooms profusely in half sun.

All of these look better if they are pinched back a few times each growing season, particularly if they are grown in pots. Over feeding can create soft growth that breaks easily and over watering attracts mildew and insect problems such as whitefly or aphids.

Sources include: J. L. Hudson Seeds (www.jlhudsonseeds.net). Plectranthus argentatus 100 seeds $2.50. Grows three feet with two to four inches silvery white leaves and pale blue-white flowers. Papa Geno’s in Nebraska. See: www.papagenos.com and (402) 794-0400 sells several varieties as plants plus combinations to grow together. Johnny’s Selected Seeds (www.johnnyseeds.com) has pelleted P. argentatus seeds. Park Seed, (800) 213-0076, has a foliage container collection that includes Plectranthus.