Vero Beach Crotons Spring 2018

VeroKarl

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10/02/15
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My last thread from 2016 was getting a bit long so thought I would start a new one to share some photos from the garden this spring. I will slowly add to it as I have a chance to add more images.

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It's just heaven on earth.
Thanks so much. We are so lucky to have the perfect climate to grow all of these things here. When I lived in Rhode Island having a garden like this would have only been a dream. If you ever have a chance to get to Florida, you would really enjoy the botanical gardens as well as the gardens of many of the croton members. Ana's garden for example, puts mine to shame. It is a passion to create my own little tropical paradise.
 
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Above are some more close up photos of some of the crotons that are coloring up. They include a couple that I got as unknowns from one of Jeff's sales as well as Brandon James, Connie Cutler, and Colonel Lindbergh. The photos in the first post featured Lemon Top, and Mona Lisa and Helen Edge together.
 
Thanks so much. We are so lucky to have the perfect climate to grow all of these things here. When I lived in Rhode Island having a garden like this would have only been a dream. If you ever have a chance to get to Florida, you would really enjoy the botanical gardens as well as the gardens of many of the croton members. Ana's garden for example, puts mine to shame. It is a passion to create my own little tropical paradise.
Unfortunately, I will never be able to visit you. Only google maps I can look at the beauty of Florida. Share photos of your gardens on the forum. From them the mood is super! Thank you!
 
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These were from a few weeks back so the plants have grown since, but have not had a chance to get out and take new photos. Starting with the first photo they are: Princess Eugenia, Amabile, Showgirl, Catch of the Day, Grenada with Baby Moose, and ADF 9. Behind Amabile and around Showgirl and Grenada you can see a variegated sea grape. Need to do some air layering on the sea grape to share it.
 
Karl, you have such a gorgeous garden! It's a pity that we weren't able to see it :(
It must be much warmer in Vero Beach. I was surprised to see coconut palms growing everywhere.
My plants have just started growing. I can't believe how slow and painful the recovery is...
 
Karl, you have such a gorgeous garden! It's a pity that we weren't able to see it :(
It must be much warmer in Vero Beach. I was surprised to see coconut palms growing everywhere.
My plants have just started growing. I can't believe how slow and painful the recovery is...
Hopefully you will be back in Vero when I am free and the garden is looking good. I am still working on weeding and mulching, but things are coming along. We have missed most of the recent rain so things are starting to get dry. Even with an irrigation system there are plenty of plants that don't get watered. Supposed to be getting rain starting tomorrow, so hopefully we get a good soaking without any extreme weather.
 
Same here. No rain for two weeks. The other day was only half inch of rain, and did not make it under the oak where I placed most of my crotons.
...And there is no irrigation under the oak :(
 
Karl, I have a question for you. You brought so many crotons from different sources and placed them straight into your garden. Did you bring any croton scale? If so, how you deal with it in your lush garden?
I know I brought the scale when I started collecting crotons. It was not here before. Ever since it is flushing here and there, even got into my unkillable 30 years old Bravo. I lost a couple of smaller plants to it. As soon as leaves started growing after the freeze it was there again. I use the sun coffee, horticultural oils, insecticidal soaps and sometime pesticides. As soon as I think that they are all gone…I am finding them somewhere else. And I have a limited number of not very big plants. I wonder if I can ever get rid of it? I sure do not want to send it out to another country. I know that there are special threads for it, but you have a lot of new plants and you never complained about the scale. Do you fertilize your plants? I do. I've just read that there may be some connection.
Sorry for the spam, but since I do not have that beautiful garden of yours, I wanted to share the wild turkey :)
I had to chase it to the neighbors yard to take these pictures.

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Nice hen turkey. They are fun to watch, they were very common in Western Vero when I was a youngster.
 
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Karl, I have a question for you. You brought so many crotons from different sources and placed them straight into your garden. Did you bring any croton scale? If so, how you deal with it in your lush garden?
I know I brought the scale when I started collecting crotons. It was not here before. Ever since it is flushing here and there, even got into my unkillable 30 years old Bravo. I lost a couple of smaller plants to it. As soon as leaves started growing after the freeze it was there again. I use the sun coffee, horticultural oils, insecticidal soaps and sometime pesticides. As soon as I think that they are all gone…I am finding them somewhere else. And I have a limited number of not very big plants. I wonder if I can ever get rid of it? I sure do not want to send it out to another country. I know that there are special threads for it, but you have a lot of new plants and you never complained about the scale. Do you fertilize your plants? I do. I've just read that there may be some connection.
Sorry for the spam, but since I do not have that beautiful garden of yours, I wanted to share the wild turkey :)
I had to chase it to the neighbors yard to take these pictures.

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Pix,
Unfortunately I do have croton scale. It appeared early on in the gardens when I first started getting into crotons. I need to use pesticides on a regular basis, but use it just selectively on the crotons because I have many butterfly attracting plants and don't want to impact the good insects. The scale seems to be worse when the plants are stressed such as when we are dealing with long periods with no rain. There are some crotons that seem to be more prone than others. I have tried the horticultural oils, neem, and other less toxic methods, but unfortunately have not found them very effective. I do fertilize a couple of times a year. I have not had any wild turkeys in the yard, but have plenty of armadillos that dig up the gardens as well as the neighbors cats, a raccoon that I spot regularly in the gardens, and who knows what else.
 
Very nice, Karl. I love the Tropical Feel, and all look great. Interestingly, one of my hybrids, which I posted some time ago, really resembles your 'Solar Flare'. I'd never heard of that one before and thought mine was unique. Too bad. I was hoping to name it someday after my son. Here is a photo of it from last year. It's a bit larger now, but I don't have a recent photo. Almost every leaf is interrupted. I love it. So cheery! Its parents are Trinidad Interrupted Leaf and Yellow Iceton. You can see both parents easily.


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Very nice, Karl. I love the Tropical Feel, and all look great. Interestingly, one of my hybrids, which I posted some time ago, really resembles your 'Solar Flare'. I'd never heard of that one before and thought mine was unique. Too bad. I was hoping to name it someday after my son. Here is a photo of it from last year. It's a bit larger now, but I don't have a recent photo. Almost every leaf is interrupted. I love it. So cheery! Its parents are Trinidad Interrupted Leaf and Yellow Iceton. You can see both parents easily.


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Hi Ana, That was just a name I came up with for a seedling I got from Jose at the auction at your place. I thought it was one of a kind and he had said it was up for naming. That was the best name I could come up with at the time. Your plant looks quite different and very special. You should definitely name it. Nobody else has "Solar Flare" yet because I have not had a chance to propagate it. I owe Keith one at some point, but won't propagate after that so everyone will have the one named after your son instead.
 
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Baby Moose is of course the seedling I got from Ron and named in his honor. It has become a really beautiful plant. I have only shared it with Marie so far.
 
Hi Ana, That was just a name I came up with for a seedling I got from Jose at the auction at your place. I thought it was one of a kind and he had said it was up for naming. That was the best name I could come up with at the time. Your plant looks quite different and very special. You should definitely name it. Nobody else has "Solar Flare" yet because I have not had a chance to propagate it. I owe Keith one at some point, but won't propagate after that so everyone will have the one named after your son instead.

We'll see, Karl. I'm still waiting to see what it grows up to, and it hasn't been shared. It is not terribly fast. Time will tell. The variegated seagrape is very cool! I'd love to see your garden someday. You obviously have a passion for gardening, not just for crotons!
 
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