I've never had any trouble overwintering Coleus, but they do get spider mites something awful!

And yeah, the seeds for some of them are outrageously priced!! Especially the T&M ones! I grew three generations of seed once from a deep red variety, and they did change a bit, but not so much that I'd be tempted to fork over the big bucks for new ones every year. I haven't grown them for a couple of years because one of my cats decided they were very tasty and he'd eat them down to nothing, but I'm tempted again! I love the deep red ones.

BP

The price here is down a bit from last year, but I could see where it would be costly if you want to buy a few plants. Sort of like Âwave petunias when they first came out. Now you can get them cheaper, though now they come out with the idea of selling bigger plants (or at least bigger sized pots) for more money.

I bought "Kong" last year, saved cuttings and they grew in a glass of water all winter. Unfortunately, when I transplanted them to soil I must have kept them too cool and damp and they rotted.

So, bought a new one this year. This year I want to plant it in a flower bed as opposed to a pot. Hopefully it will do better if not rootbound (though it still did pretty decent last year).

Glen

Along the same lines -but different- I discovered an interesting thing in the rose propogation forum. You can take a rose from a bouquet, so long as it hasn't started to rot at the stem from being old, and if you follow proper methods and procedures, actually get this thing to root and eventually you have the same rose bush growing for yourself. And it isn't even high tech. It takes a few months before it is in your garden, like overwintering it, but that is a time investment rather than financial. Opens up a whole new world of possibilities doesn't it?