Exotica, does it exist?

I know one exists on the west coast for sure, unless it was hit by the cold.

However, its possible this one might become fairly abundant soon ;)

stay tuned..........
 
I know one exists on the west coast for sure, unless it was hit by the cold.

However, its possible this one might become fairly abundant soon ;)

stay tuned..........

Rob - you sound like the cat who ate the canary. What gives Dude? Is it going to be available at the Glock's Holiday Get Together????? :)
 
While were discussing a very beautiful and extreamly rare croton, look what happened to the Davis collection in North Miami. When the house was sold to the next owner, he decided to let the majority of crotons be dug and sold. People like Kurt Decker and Jesse Durko got the majority of these plants, only to do very little propagation and to take a responsible approach to preserve them,and little by little many of his hybrids were lost. Johnny Shelton wasn't much better. For me personally, I wasn't able to get anything worthwhile from him either. All three of these gentlemen are now out of the loop.

During his time, John Bender and still to this day, Frank Brown have done and still do a great job with sharing their plants and maintaining a real, first class collection.
 
Jeff - Add yourself to that list that includes Dr. Brown and John Bender. Having personally spent a bunch of years in the landscape trade, your nursery stands out for having more Croton varieties than 99% of those that I dealt with. The only other real Croton collection would be Boynton Botanicals, but even then, their involvement with the Society has been very limited.
 
Thanks to Jeff, some Yuletides have been distributed. :cool:

Now back to Rob's prediction in post # 18 about Exotica popping up and becoming available? :confused: As Clara Peller stated many years ago, "Where's the Beef"? LOL :rolleyes:

Scott, how have you come by this information? I sure hope this is true. Bob Alonzo told me that Yuletide is making its way into the trade.
 
A few of us did see an Exotica recently in a private collection, west coast, but still a very, very small plant. As far as I know, Tapestry might be lost.

Rob never did get any Exoticas so the chase is still on.
 
A few of us did see an Exotica recently in a private collection, west coast, but still a very, very small plant. As far as I know, Tapestry might be lost.

Rob never did get any Exoticas so the chase is still on.

Update: some Exoticas did finally get located and a few lucky ones have them in their collections.

The Moose is soooooo unlucky :(
 
Foremost is bringing in unrooted cuttings of a croton from Costa Rica that they are calling Exotico. When I saw the picture, it looked more like a Reliance or Willy - definitely not Exotica.
 
Foremost is bringing in unrooted cuttings of a croton from Costa Rica that they are calling Exotico. When I saw the picture, it looked more like a Reliance or Willy - definitely not Exotica.

Marie - was unaware that Foremost was marketing a croton as Exotico. My reference is to those beauties that came from "those islands" in the Pacific! :rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
Imagine how excited I was when I recently saw a grower advertising Codiaeum Exotica in a regional plant finder available in 1 and 3 gallon pots. I also believed it was too good to be true. I anxiously called the grower and asked him to send me a picture of what he is calling Exotica, and he responded quickly with the pic below, saying it was called Exotico. Hmmm, I knew it was too good to be true. Exotica is at the top of my very long and ever growing list of desired crotons for my small 20130626_103910_1.jpegcollection, and I will continue to beat on doors to purchase one. Being that I live in the Keys where conditions are really sweet for growing crotons as many of the forum members say, I am up for the challenge to grow this one out!
 
I know the exact story on this and can clear up a few things. The only real exotica around was a nice 3'x3' plant I stumbled across in a driveway in davie one day. I knew what it was, and didn't really have time to deal with it, so I called a buddy and sent him in. He found that the original rutherford collection was planted around that house, and bought it all. He has been the source for all the exotica we have around here, and has done a pretty good job getting it out there. I never had a big plant of this one, and consider it functionally extinct until the davie plant turned up. Bender did not have exotica. So patience is key. And jeff, I gave the davis collection to flamingo gardens. I kept a cutting of the ones I liked, and they got all the mother plants. When I bought that collection it had been cut so much nothing was identifiable, or outstanding looking. I planted them in the ground and left them unmolested for 3-4 years. A lot of that giant leaf stuff takes a long time to mature and color out, and they develop very few heads. Not the type of thing that lends itself to mass propogation. Hope that helps. Kd
 
Holy Crap - its Kurt Decker! That is a name from way back. Kurt, I'm sure you don't remember me from back in the days when you did the South Florida Palm Society Sales. I was the star struck guy who hung around Ricky Kern's booth all the time. So glad to see you posting!!!

Ron :)
 
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