Story of the Coleus and Dracaena Salad

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This container arrangement was quite an experience to watch from one week to the next. In the beginning, everything was perfectly behaved and beautifully proportioned—five ferns, five coleus, trailing ivy, and a stately dracaena standing proudly in the center. Each plant seemed to know exactly where it belonged.

For a while, the richly colored coleus dominated the show, spreading its burgundy, purple, and lime-edged leaves throughout the arrangement. But then came August—and suddenly the ferns had something to say.

“We’re being smothered! We need to breathe! We’re coming out!”

And out they came!

Bright lime-green fronds pushed their way through the coleus in every direction, becoming the show-offs of the arrangement. Their feathery texture was the perfect contrast to the broad, colorful coleus leaves, while the tall dracaena continued to rise above it all, adding its own dramatic flourish.

And the bowl that started it all? By late summer, you could barely find it. It had been completely overtaken by this exuberant mixture of foliage, color, and texture.

Perhaps the best way to describe it is exactly what it became: the finest outdoor “salad” you could possibly grow—coleus, ferns, ivy, and dracaena, tossed together by nature and generously dressed with a whole summer of sunshine and rain.