Just Finshed a Croton Planting Project

Moose

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10/09/09
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I've been working on a croton planting project in the Mooseland for a couple of weeks. Just finished it Friday. Added 14 more crotons. It took 1 and 1/2 pick-up truck loads of mulch to complete. Unfortunately, no functioning camera to share photos.

Supposedly - the new camera will be delivered this evening. Come on UPS :eek:
 
I've been working on a croton planting project in the Mooseland for a couple of weeks. Just finished it Friday. Added 14 more crotons. It took 1 and 1/2 pick-up truck loads of mulch to complete. Unfortunately, no functioning camera to share photos.

Supposedly - the new camera will be delivered this evening. Come on UPS :eek:

Got the camera! Maybe some photos today ... :rolleyes:
 
Congratulations on completing your planting project. Bet it looks great. Just wondering if you are the "little bird" who mentioned to Marie that I would like to have Freckles??? What a wonderful gift. Thanks. Also got Tan-Wi-Kiat from another friend. A good Christmas. Hope yours was also. We got our beautiful Black Beauty in the ground and it looks great.
 
Ron,

Looking forward to seeing these pictures. And speaking of Black Beauty, I just sold one today to a collector down in Key West. It should flourish down there, while expanding it's range of survivability.
 
Congratulations on completing your planting project. Bet it looks great. Just wondering if you are the "little bird" who mentioned to Marie that I would like to have Freckles??? What a wonderful gift. Thanks. Also got Tan-Wi-Kiat from another friend. A good Christmas. Hope yours was also. We got our beautiful Black Beauty in the ground and it looks great.


Marnie - glad to hear that the Black Beauty made it into the ground. Must have been fun digging that hole. Yours is probably the second largest around that is not in the Mooseland. Be nice if you posted a picture and showed it off.

I saw a Tan-Wi-Kiat available at the Ramble at Fairchild. Tan-Wi-Kait I believe is the director of the new garden - Gardens-By-The-Bay in Singapore. Specifically made a point of not getting any crotons (and the urge was severe) since I had so many that needed planting. I punished myself for procrastinating. :(
 
Tan Wi Kiat is indeed the director of Gardens by the Bay at Singapore Botanical Garden. Were you at the lecture he gave at Fairchild a couple of months ago? This croton is a newly released hybrid from Richard Button and quite nice. I will try to get some pictures up soon.
 
Hmmmm - I think this thread needs a photo. Here is the "overall" image of the new project. If some crotons look large and well established, they are. To the left Oak tree - that is the established North Oak area. To the right Oak tree is the established South Oak area. The "New" area is the fill-in between. The project got more involved than originally anticipated. Many hours were expended but the rewards will be worth it. I spent perhaps half my day light hours (when not at work) over a three week period doing this project.

There were 12 established crotons and 14 were added - plus a palm Gaussia princeps
 

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The site prep took alot of time. The whole area was full of weeds and the in between area had grass needing removal. All was done by hand. Fear of overspray from round up and mulching some very hardy weeds made me do it the old fashion way. :)
 
Then I came across a large pile of freshly trimmed oak sitting in a trash pile destined for the land fill. Could not let that happen so my truck got filled to the brim with oak logs. My original intention was to used rock as a retension wall to hold in all the mulch I planned to use. The availabilty of the Oak logs and the fact that I could use them along the street - big rock would be forebidden, my plans were amended. Two more days expended on this change.

Here are some shots of the mulch retension oak log edging. This edging is along the shaded sidewalk area mostly. I used logs that had Resurrection Fern growing on them. I don't know why but I am a sucker for resurrection fern. Just love to see it spring to life. It should stay on the host oak logs - I don't think it will migrate to the mulch. Hopefully it will spore and get some establishment on my oaks. I've tried to transplant resurrection fern in the past - failure. :(

The last photo is a 200 lbs. plus log on the north side. Concerned that someone could park a vehicle there and run into my plants was a concern. It is my experience that most people have little regard about not damaging plants with their vehicles. They do worry about their cars getting hurt. Hence - big fat log.
 

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On the western edge along the street and the south area - I used oak logs without the resurrection ferns. Just too much sun for them to survive. This area had to be redone because cars kept running over the logs. Although the logs were seated in a dug-out "moat - it did not prevent cars from getting precariously near my plants. During my site prep - years of accumulated compost on the street with grass and weeds growing in it were removed. That added about 12 inches to the road width - so an encroachment was occuring with a seemingly "wider road". A revision to the original plan was required.

Once again going with the premise that people worry about their cars. I raised the entire mulch bed to about 9 inches above the road grade. Seeing the raised area and not knowing that it is pure mulch - it gives the illusion that this is a solid area that could damage their vehicles. So far the "illusion" has worked. The "white bumps", that were always there, were raised and placed on top of the mulch to add to the "solidity illusion" and an increase to visibilty.

The last photo is on the southern end. This area has been built up with over 12" of mulch. The revamping expended another two days of time - the actual work and reloading the truck with more mulch. The final project ended up using approx. 400 cubic ft. of mulch. When I get cold fronts - the wind usually comes racing down the street along this road. My pick-up truckis usually parked to the north during these events as a wind break. That plus all the mulch hopefuly will help the crotons a degree or two? :confused:
 

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This is the free mulch I get from the City of Hialeah. Its good mulch but has alot of debris in it. Its the only way I can afford to mulch so heavily. The little green wires are evidence that there is ground up Christmas trees in there from last year. People toss their Christmas trees with the lights still on them.

This is my fourth load as I have moved on remulching other areas in the Mooseland.
 

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Here are the already established crotons from the North Oak group.

#1 overall group view
#2 Corkscrew
#3 Ethel Craig - from Judy Glock
#4 Golden Glow found in an abandoned home. Not a good photo, first photos with the new camera.
#5 Johannis - from Bullwinkle
#6 Petra - one of my first crotons
#7 Reliance - another of my first crotons
#8 Twist & Point - from Jeff Searle
#9 Yellow Petra - from Jeff searle
 

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Ron looks great hard work has a great reward. I really like the I d page you gave a name for a plant I need. Golden glow I lost in 2010 thanks.
 
Ron looks great hard work has a great reward. I really like the I d page you gave a name for a plant I need. Golden glow I lost in 2010 thanks.

Lamar - I got a small one in a gallon container with four growth points. It needs to get stepped up. Its yours if you want. Do you make it down my way? I can put it into a larger container if you can't make it down here for awhile. :)
 
Thank you to all for the positive responses.

Here are some more photos. These are from the previously existing crotons under the South Oak. :)

#1 South Oak grouping shot from across the street
#2 This one was given to me as a Bravo from Bullwinkle. It looks like its looking more like a Magnificent
#3 Christian's Landscape - from Jeff Searle. Looks better in person, getting use to the new camera
#4 Eburneum
#5 Multicolor
#6 robert Lavalois
#7 Victoria's Gold Bells
 

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Paar tee! Paar Tee!! PAAAR TEEE!!!!

Great job, Ron. And I remember my very first visit to the Mooseland, I was actually looking for a moose. Lol! Crotons were ohh so small back then.
 
Here are a couple of shots of the pedestrian route :)

In time it should look like a wall of color ...
 

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And finally the new additions: This is tagged as Ann Rutherford. It came from a cutting of a cutting that Jeff Searle had in his garden as Ann Rutherford. Becuase it started exhibiting orange (which Ann Rutherford does not have) - that ID was nixed. Some say that it is a Kentucky, but I am not 100% convinced. Only time may tell ... :confused:
 

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Next is Bravo that came from Marie Nock. This croton was tucked away and forgotten. It was very stretched out and under potted. Marie gave it too me as a reclamation project since she had way too many other plants to deal with. It has filled out and looks happy that its in the ground! :eek:
 

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Next up is one from Mike (Bullwinkle) that is tagged as Cardinal. It was in a shaded area and lacks significant color. Don't remember when I got this from Mike, but it has been a bit of time. Definitely not very fast. It has moved a bit since planting and hopefully with more sun exposure it will color up nicely. :)
 

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And here is another from Mike (Bullwinkle) tagged as Chief. Randy saw it already planted out and he said it "don't look my "Chief". Jeff Searle saw this same croton back in mid November while it was still in the container. He said it was not a Chief as well. "Ron - that croton looks way better than a Chief".
 

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This was a recent acquisition from Lamar (Native Son) at our last garden tour function, Excellent. I already have one but the surrounding plants have grown so much that it is very shaded and difficult to see. This was such a robust thick stemmed plant that I could not pass it up. Now I am gonna see what Excellent will look like with much more sun exposure. ;)
 

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This may be a very variable cultivar, Mango. Randy told me he has three and they all look different. This particular plant garnered a first place blue ribbon at the Tropical Fern and Exotic Plant Society Show last Spring. I got it as a 4" rooted cutting from Jeff Searle. :eek:
 

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This one came from Randy (palmisland), Montoya Circle. It exhibits lots of nice pink colors with proper lighting. It ended up in too much shade so hopefuly it will start showing the hot pinks again with more sun. Randy named this croton Montoya Circle because it is the street name (in Boca Raton?) where he found it. Has yet to have anyone be able to ID it as any known cultivar. The Momma plant is in horrible condition reported by Randy.
 

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Another of the new additions. This croton was streched out and in too much shade. For some reason (and I can not think of any legitimate one), I thought it to be a Nestor. Randy saw it and thought no way. Neither of us could figure out what other potential ID could be attached. We came up blank - any ideas ? :confused:
 

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To add a different texture and future shade, I planted this Gaussia princeps. I know that this palm does not support a large crown with age, but being planted between the two oaks - it will add to the canopy eventually. Since its habitat is reportedly on Magote (raised limestone), I dug down about 30 inches, mixed in 10% composted oak leaf amendments to the native soil (almost pure limestone rock) and backfilled the hole. It sure seems happy getting out of the root bound container. I got this at a Searle Brothers Extravaganza a few years back. :)
 

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This is the newly added Noblissima I got from Mike (Bullwinkle) a long time ago. It got very root bound and was difficult keeping hydrated. I needed to submerge this croton in a bucket every couple of weeks during the dry seasons. It kept getting put off getting planted and did not want to step it up into a larger container either. Since it dried out less quickly in heavy shade, it stayed under a tree and lost most of its color. It now has lots of room for its roots to expand into nice amended soil and more sun exposure. It should color up now it is in the ground. This is one tough plant - it really went "unloved for too long. :eek:
 

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Another new addition is a NOID from Mike (Bullwinkle) It was a slow grower in the container. The leaves are a dark purple to almost black with nice large pink flecks. I look forward to watching this one to develope and obtain some size. :)
 

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Ron,
I think the croton in post 32 is Sunrise that perhaps has had too much or too little sun.
 
Oh my - I never finished posting photos of the new ones.

Here is Plaid Oak that came to me as a gift from Randy (Palmisland). :)
 

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