Traded the greenhouse for a shade house after my ferns kept frying

I had to pick between keeping my sun-loving coleus near the glass or moving everything under 40% shade cloth in my backyard in Savannah. I went with the shade house after three afternoons of wilted fronds and crispy tips on my bird's nest fern. Now the coleus is leggy but the ferns are thriving, which means I basically traded one problem for another. Does anyone else struggle with choosing which plants get the prime spot, or do you just rotate them every few weeks?

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lisab322d ago

I see it differently on the coleus. You said it's "leggy" like that's a bad thing, but some of my best coleus got tall and loose when shaded and honestly looked cooler that way. The leaves stayed bigger and the colors were deeper. I think you might be fighting the plant's natural growth habit instead of working with it. I'd rather have a happy, sprawling coleus than a tight one that's stressed. And rotating every few weeks sounds like a pain, I've done it and you just end up shocking everything every time you move it. Pick your winners and let the others adapt, that's been my rule for years now.