Tampa Croton Farm

We planted 194 airlayers from my airlayer factory that I moved to Tampa in a UHaul trailer.i am having trouble uploading the pictures. I will get it worked and post layer.

 

Fantastic! What a labor of love.

 

Looks great ,when you are up there next year take a few so we can see before and after

 

My biggest fear is an incredibly cold winter. If we get a fair Winter and they have a year to set in a new growth we might have a far better chance of keeping them alive.

 

All of us in the Bay area join you in hoping for a mild winter. We are in the Eastlake area and saw 28 deg. last year, which caused a lot of leaf drop from the established crotons and was harder on the newly planted ones. However, even a young uncovered Macarthur Complex survived...barely. I thought it was dead but left it alone and a couple of months later it started new leaves. It is still recovering slowly but probably wouldn't make it through another cold snap. All my new plants/layered starts are now in pots on the patio and will come inside for any cold stuff. Only plants with successful cuttings/layerings will go into the ground any more. Even at that it is iffy because we are overrun with deer that will nibble newly planted crotons and just about anything else even if listed as "seldom bothered." Hope your beautiful planting does well this year. Maybe you will become a new Tampa area source in the future? We sure could use that here.

 

Dan we can join the new Global Warming Suport Team but we might get a little grief for being short sighted and self centered.

 

My brother-in-law has a collection and his home fronts a large lake in Odessa, north of Tampa. He's had some pretty cold winters and his plants have done OK. Being on the water maybe mitigates the cold, but then his house faces north, so he gets the full force of the a cold front's winds coming off the lake. Luckily, most of the plants are behind (south) of his large 2 story home (very similar to yours). BTW, he's got a very large, who-knows-how-old Stewartii that prolifically puts out all kinds of crazy seedlings, including the interrupted leaf. It looks like your Tampa place is on the water, maybe a canal? That may help vs. the cold, but if so,be careful with a wheelbarrow near the sea wall!. Good luck!

 

Hello Perry, yes the large body of plants are located on the Southeastern border. They are just off the bay South of Gandy Bridge. The manatees pour up into their waterway in the Winter there is a warm water spring back up in the pocket just past their home. Thanks for responding I hope all is well in your world. Best wishes.

 

Right mow, my back yard is entirely underwater. We've had insane amounts of rain daily for many days, and now the concern is how long can the plant roots survive in an "aquatic" setting?

 

Perry we have had record rain fall this year and my plants are growing like crazy. Now standing water that is an all together different story. I guess all you can do is just wait it out. If you loss a few let me know I am going to start airlayering again I can't stand to just cut back. I don't seem to be able to grow from cuttings. Good Luck.

 

Spreading the love of these unique plants