The Coleus are easy to care for.
Image by B. Montgomery. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
You are responsible for keeping these plants alive for the rest of the semester. This should be easy to achieve if you water regularly.
Needed supplies:
Students use Coleus for a couple of activities:
I grow coleus from cuttings or purchase in the right season. Be aware it is hard to buy Coleus in January or even September, so plan head. I pot the cuttings into ~ 5 inch pots with commercial potting soil. I send students two varieties, so when they make cuttings, it looks cool (and is easier for instructor to see they have accomplished it).
The hardest part is shipping live plants. The best way to learn how to ship coleus is to buy a plant from Carolina and see how they package it, and then to replicate it as well as possible. It involves cardboard, tape and ideally a staple gun. It's worth the time spent to perfect packaging; otherwise, they do poorly in shipping. I've wondered if there are other plants students could easily purchase at garden stores throughout the year that would substitute - any ideas?
To reduce the hassle, I require students who living within 30 minutes of campus to come pick up their supplies, and I tell them that if they can't pick up replacements from campus in the event a plant dies, they may need to order replacements from Carolina Biological if they can't find Coleus at a garden store.