If I could only have 20 cultivars

kwtimo

Well-Known Member
596
22/05/10
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So I have thought of the many times that I have said to myself and others, "Oh yeah, that's a top 20 croton", and had to really think of what they would actually be. That's a really tough task, because as I am exposed to more cultivars, and see how they can look at their peak of color, the list has seemed to change a bit here and there. What if I really only could have 20 cultivars? What would I choose to look at for the rest of my days? What are the cultivars that I have bought multiples of and always try to plant in landscapes? I've attempted to make a solid list here, but I know that I would most likely want to swap a few out here and there. There are a few, however, that I just wouldn't want to live without, starting with:
1. Sybil Griffin
2. Princess Eugenia
3. Father's Day
4. Pop's Yard
5. Cutler's Gulfstream
6. Stained Glass
7. Flamingo
8. Arrowhead
9. William Craig
10.Tiger Eye
11. Carol Graff
12. Irene Kingsley
13. Commotion
14. Cronstadt
15. Mosaic
16. Thomas Edison
17. Queen of Siam
18. Sturrock's Pink Veitchii
19. R.L. Farquar
20. Fishbone
Obviously, there are other cultivars that could have easily been on my list, like Exotica, Scarlet Fever, Mr. White, Monarch, Stoplight, Limelight, Prince of Orange, A.B. Cartiledge, MacKenzie, and so on, but this is what I came up with. What say you? What would you pick if you had to narrow it down to 20?
 
Ooooohhhh..... I'll play. The plants I'll mention are not necessarily in my yard, but specimens I've seen in others' yards also. Tim, I see we have a lot of overlap!


1)Thea
2)Tali as seen in Stan Wood's yard
3)My semi-oak unknown I call Hope. It is the one in my avatar
4)Polychrome
5)Rudy Bachman
6)Father's Day- as seen in Jeff Searle's yard
7)General Marshall
8)William Craig
9)Kiss and Tell
10)Thomas Edison
11)Claude Lorraine
12)Raphael
13)Sybil Griffin
14)Arrowhead
15)Doris
16)Stained Glass- I find this one looks great some of the year, not so much at other times
17)Waterfall as seen in others' yards
18)My oak-leaf unknown with long side lobes
19)Cronstadt
20)Fishbone
21)Monarch
22)Limelight
23)Gonzales
24)Lucille Alonzo

Alright, people, I just couldn't leave the last 4 out. ShamefullyEmbarrased
 
Anna, I have four of these (soon to be five once the air layer is ready), at three different properties. The two that look the best are in some direct pre-noon sun, and then they receive filtered light the rest of the day. I have a more juvenile plant in similar conditions that should put on some good growth this year, and it looks pretty good. Then I have one that is shaded out, and it looks rather poor and never colors up. That one needs to be moved. I forgot all about Tali for my Top 20 list. I would definitely remove a cultivar to be able to have that.
 
It's hard to imagine being limited to just 20 varieties. Part of the fun of collecting crotons is that there are so many to choose from. But if I had to choose, here are my top 20.

1. Princess Eugenia
2. Tali
3. Flamingo
4. Davis 87
5. John Criswick
6. Trinidad Interrupted Leaf
7. Doris
8. Mona Lisa
9. Queen of Siam
10. Rudy Bachman
11. William Craig
12. Sybil Griffin
13. Polychrome
14. Robert Halgrim
15. Fishbone
16. Irresistible
17. Exotica
18. Barack Obama
19. Columbiana
20. Prince of Orange
 
1.Barack Obama
2.John Criswick
3.Polychrome
4.Flamingo
5.Rudy Bachman
6.Exotica
7.White Tapestry
8.Davis 87
9.Amabile
10.Stained Glass
11.Tali
12.Stan's Big and Weird
13.Thea
14.Davis 14
15.Red Quill
16.Fascination
17.Pretty Bird
18.R.L. Farquar
19.Granada
20.Joanna Roof
 
Mike please post a picture of Barack Obama, it is not in the Wiki and I don't remember it. TKS.
 
Marie and Mike, you both mentioned Davis 87, which was a definite consideration for me. I have yet to find its optimum lighting preference though, so I don't feel like I have seen it at its peak of color. What kind of lighting do you have yours in?
 
Mike please post a picture of Barack Obama, it is not in the Wiki and I don't remember it. TKS.

No Pic Lamar. Marie,Jose and Cookie have this one,Very,very pretty but has not made it to Plantation yet :) I understand that it is a moderate grower so it will be up this way before too long.
 
Marie and Mike, you both mentioned Davis 87, which was a definite consideration for me. I have yet to find its optimum lighting preference though, so I don't feel like I have seen it at its peak of color. What kind of lighting do you have yours in?

I would say Davis 87 needs some direct sun during the day to gt its best color but like most crotons half and half is about perfect.
 
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My 20
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I had to stop my IPad got hot and started posting doubles and randomness, I hope you got the idea.
 
I love seeing everyone's top 20. Alerts me to the possibilities for my list. Lamar, lovely, lovely. Would have loved some names along with the photos- especially for a few of them. Marie, your Barack Obama is stunning! Yes, this thread needs more photos. Definitely some winner crotons in the top 20. Thanks everyone.
 
1 Gulf Stream, 2 Anna Lopez, 3 Pink Davis, 4 , 5 ? From Ree Gardens, 6 Edison, 7 My version of Black Beauty 8 Davis Compacta, 9 #93, 10 Narrow Leaf Pride of Winter Haven, 11 , 12, 13 Wilma, 14 Blotched Thanksgiving
 
This is just way too hard. I keep trying and come up with more than 20 each time. Oh well, here goes:
1. Sybil Griffin
2. Arrowhead
3. Golden Glow
4. Tiger Eye'
5. Freckles
6. Tan Wi Kiat
7. Stop Light
8. Delores
9. King of Siam
10. Dreadlocks
11, Caribbean Star
12. Duke of Windsor
13. Geisha Girl
14. Thomas Edison
15. Raphael
16. Nestor
17. Trinadad Interupted leaf
18. Thomas Edison
19. Majesticum
20. Cronstadt

I could keep going, but this is a good start on some of the ones I love. I really need to get a Barack Obama. Love that one.
 
My favorite is Zanzibar (Brilliantissima) but it is not a favorite for my winter in this part of Fl. Why I keep it? I do not know.
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This is such a great thread. I am getting plenty of ideas of what I need to add to my collection based on crotons that are consistent favorites. I am going to chose from the plants I have experience growing and are in my garden (some for years and others recently added) for my top 20. Some may get knocked out when new plants start to settle in and color up.

1. Tiger Eye
2. Applause
3. Madame Butterfly
4. Polychrome
5. Reliance
6. Duke of Windsor
7. King of Siam
8. Piecrust
9. Duncan Macaw
10. Claude Lorraine
11. Pop's Yard
12. Tan Wi Kiat
13. Doris
14. Lucha
15. Fish Bone
16. Rudy Bachman
17. Hazard/Green Dragon
18. Buddy
19. Nancy Reagan
20. Waterfall
 
Reliance! Karl, I'd forgotten about Reliance. Phil has one that's Gorgeous! It's a beautiful cultivar.

Marnie, you entered Thomas Edison twice! You get one more pick.

Scott, why don't you keep Zanzibar in a pot you can bring indoors?

By the way, I'm ashamed I'm the only one that couldn't stop at 20. But I couldn't. Sorry.:D
 
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Reliance and an all yellow sport I cut from a destroyed plant at my tennis club(branch fell and killed the host)
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Lil' A. You have carty blanchie you can post as much as you like. That said you have to keep doing all the work we enjoy!
 
I can't believe I listed Thomas Edison twice after all of my fretting over that list. Now I have to decide which of my alternates makes the list. I think it will be that beautiful Cotton Candy that I would love to have. Thanks for the heads up Ana.
 
Reliance! Karl, I'd forgotten about Reliance. Phil has one that's Gorgeous! It's a beautiful cultivar.

Marnie, you entered Thomas Edison twice! You get one more pick.

Scott, why don't you keep Zanzibar in a pot you can bring indoors?

By the way, I'm ashamed I'm the only one that couldn't stop at 20. But I couldn't. Sorry.:D
Anna, I have kept another Zanzibar in a pot and have brought it in when temps were below 45f. It only looks a little better than my ground planted one. Planted it in the ground last month and here is it's not so pretty picture. I gave it my best go, but sometimes that is still not good enough.
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Reliance and P. Paintbrush are 2 more in my top 20, but I no longer grow them. Trust me "they have a better home now". Still have a few Rocio that are in my top 20. Not a great looking plant here but I will put my one and only seedling in my top 20.
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After thinking a bit, I compiled my list, And there was certainly many others that could of been included. But here goes...

Polychrome

Catch of the Day

Cover Girl

Jack Pot

Rudy Bachman

Magnificent

Searle #2

Henry's Favorite

Claude Lorraine

Jungle Queen

Playboy

Pops Yard

Princess Eugenia

R.L. Farquhar

Richard Krukonis

Thomas Edison

Fathers Day

Limelight

Monarch

Eleanor Fischer
 
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Red mona lisa, grenada, polychrome, joe friday, carribean star, jungle queen, franklin, wizard, rudy bachman, red wizard, fishbone, glen roof, mrs. ballard, thomas edison, captain gilbert cutler, tortoiseshell, doris decker, tigers eye, princess eugenia, candy cane.
 
Before hurricane wilma, even a beginner could go out and scour some appropriate neighborhoods and come home with a nice collection of stuff pretty quickly. These are excellent but fairly common plants that grow well and used to be widespread in dade and broward. Stoplight, franklin, general paget, eleanor, corkscrew, irene kingsley, bravo, joanna coppinger, harvest moon, carribean star, davis 7, majesticum, gloriosa, william craig, general mcaurthur, rams horn, rheedii, iceton, commotion, cronstadt.
 
I am eager and curious to see some of these above named cultivars I've seen only in the wiki, or not at all! Kurt, would love to see Doris Decker! Jeff, please give us followup and new photos on Jackpot (any history here would be great!), Catch of the Day, Searle #2. Would also love to see new photos of a more mature Cover Girl and Richard Krukonis. Pretty please?:D
 
I don't know if these are my top 20 only because they seem to be scale resistant or just nicely colored.

1. Thea
2. Dreadlocks
3. Kentucky
4. Capt. Gilbert Cutler
5. Alley Cat
6. FDR
7. Ram's Horn
8. Mrs. WF Dreer
9. King of Siam
10. Van Buren
11. Gloriosa
12. Tiger's Eye
13. Miami
14. Thomas Edison
15. Multicolor
16. Interuptum
17. President Reagan
18. Pinocchio
19. Bogoriensis
20. William Craig
 
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