Favorite Crotons (Pics)

[Dwarf Fan]

I have been looking at the myriad of different types Crotons what is everyone growing out there?

Please feel free to post pics!

[Xenon]

All of them will look horrible to mostly dead at 27F and freeze to the ground/possibly die outright at 25F. Personally, I think they're worth growing where you are but if queen palms are off the cards, you shouldn't touch crotons with a 10 ft pole 😜. Things like Acalypha (copperleaf) and Cordyline fructicosa (ti plants) are a bit more hardy and more importantly are able to bounce back faster from a mid 20s freeze. 

https://forum.palmpedia.com/forums/the-croton-society.26/ (the croton forum)

 

 

[Merlyn]

@Xenon I haven't tried crotons here, but all my neighbors have them.  I haven't noted any significant damage in the upper 20s, but most (or all) are under canopy or near a house.  I'd bet that helps the hardiness a lot.

[Xenon]

15 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

@Xenon I haven't tried crotons here, but all my neighbors have them.  I haven't noted any significant damage in the upper 20s, but most (or all) are under canopy or near a house.  I'd bet that helps the hardiness a lot.

Probably. I don't think your area has seen a long duration/advective freeze since 2010. Crotons will just melt into a pile of mush, they are really zone 10 plants imo 

[Merlyn]

@Xenon greater Orlando area, yes.  My lot has seen 24.4F in 2021 and 20+ hours under freezing for 3 days in Christmas 2022.  It burned my Ti to the ground and maybe 1/3 died.  The ones under canopy were fine too, just like my neighbor's crotons.  My wife always wants more colors, but says she hates crotons.  I haven't figured out why.  It's one of those grand mysteries of life... 

[Dwarf Fan]

10 hours ago, Xenon said:

All of them will look horrible to mostly dead at 27F and freeze to the ground/possibly die outright at 25F. Personally, I think they're worth growing where you are but if queen palms are off the cards, you shouldn't touch crotons with a 10 ft pole 😜. Things like Acalypha (copperleaf) and Cordyline fructicosa (ti plants) are a bit more hardy and more importantly are able to bounce back faster from a mid 20s freeze. 

https://forum.palmpedia.com/forums/the-croton-society.26/ (the croton forum)

 

 

Thank you for the links as well as the summary on Crotons cold tolerance Jonathan. You are correct after looking up cold tolerances, I would not sleep well if I went in the direction I was looking at… damn those ‘Stoplight’ & ‘Mammy’ Crotons looked like they would make a nice addition to the garden oh well.

Thanks for “knowing your audience in the room” on this particular topic as well. 

 

[Xerarch]

10 minutes ago, Dwarf Fan said:

Thank you for the links as well as the summary on Crotons cold tolerance Jonathan. You are correct after looking up cold tolerances, I would not sleep well if I went in the direction I was looking at… damn those ‘Stoplight’ & ‘Mammy’ Crotons looked like they would make a nice addition to the garden oh well.

Thanks for “knowing your audience in the room” on this particular topic as well. 

 

I have a stoplight in a pot that that I've haven't dared/found the right place, to plant.  I've tried Mammy twice and they didn't last, and didn't even need a freeze to kill them.  Maybe I didn't give them enough water, they just kindof declined.

[Dwarf Fan]

3 hours ago, Xerarch said:

I have a stoplight in a pot that that I've haven't dared/found the right place, to plant.  I've tried Mammy twice and they didn't last, and didn't even need a freeze to kill them.  Maybe I didn't give them enough water, they just kindof declined.

Do you have any recommendations on “Cold Hardy” Tropical looking flowers or plants with foliage that add a pop of color and a tropical look to the garden?

I do NOT want to do ‘Pride of Barbados’ because it is planted in SO many landscapes here on the Island it is just over used, the same with those Yellow flowering plants they are just too redundant here as well.

I currently only have a gifted Plumeria (no idea on color?) and a salvaged, left for dead Canna lily that survived Palmageddon’21 and is currently thriving under my watch.

I want something different that looks tropical, any suggestions?

[Looking Glass]

I’ve got them coming out of my eyeballs.   They work as filler plants to large hedges depending on the type.   It doesn’t get very cold here though.   Some types don’t even like temps in the 50s.   Many grow well in pots, so you could always pic a few favs and protect during the hard times.   

[amh]

I do not know if I would call it my favorite, but I have about 1/3 of an acre of Croton texensis. I might be convince to part with some, for the right price.

[Xerarch]

5 hours ago, Dwarf Fan said:

Do you have any recommendations on “Cold Hardy” Tropical looking flowers or plants with foliage that add a pop of color and a tropical look to the garden?

I do NOT want to do ‘Pride of Barbados’ because it is planted in SO many landscapes here on the Island it is just over used, the same with those Yellow flowering plants they are just too redundant here as well.

I currently only have a gifted Plumeria (no idea on color?) and a salvaged, left for dead Canna lily that survived Palmageddon’21 and is currently thriving under my watch.

I want something different that looks tropical, any suggestions?

Some of the variegated gingers are pretty nice for a color splash, I ought to know how well they bounce back from a freeze but I don't have experience with them.  Based on the prevalence and size of many of them around town I assume they re-grow well from a freeze.  Aloes have nice blooms, though short-lived.  A tropical I really like, though it doesn't have colorful leaves is Strelitzia, the tropical bird of paradise, I grew up seeing these on tv and thinking these things must be so tropical I'd never have a chance of living somewhere these grow, those flowers are colorful and amazing.  But I've been pretty impressed with how they'll bounce back from a freeze, they can take some freezing without damage, or if they get frozen hard they've come back pretty well.

The yellow ones you don't want because of their prevalence, you're probably talking about Esperanza/Yellow Bells, Tecoma stans.  There are some newer varieties out with kindof a more orange flower vs the yellow if that makes any difference.

[iDesign]

Ha! I just posted in another thread how sad I was that my crotons usually die over the winter (in Southern CA, which has somewhat cool winter nights). I'm zone 10a... but the cold nights are bad for crotons.

I'll repost my limited success list here as well, since you're asking specifically about that. Here's my ONLY croton successes...

Mammy has been my MVP, taking a surprising amount of sun (as well as tolerating the cold-ish nights). Oak Leaf has also done well as long as it gets lots of shade. My recent success was "Magnificent" - as it made it through this most recent winter without damage.

If you haven't read it yet, I recommend you check out Len's post on his own croton successes (and fails) in croton-unfriendly California...

http://www.marriedtoplants.com/flowering-plants/crotons-in-southern-california/

If you find another croton that tolerates relative cold, I'm all ears! For me, I use mainly bromeliads (of various heights), Ti / Cordeline, Ginger & Hibiscus for my color splashes. Not sure the cold tolerance of "Blood Leaf" - but that's a popular one for color in many palm-lover's yards as well.

Hope that helps!

[iDesign]

10 hours ago, Xerarch said:

I have a stoplight in a pot that that I've haven't dared/found the right place, to plant.  I've tried Mammy twice and they didn't last, and didn't even need a freeze to kill them.  Maybe I didn't give them enough water, they just kindof declined.

Weird! My stoplight died, although it was super-tiny and an abnormally cold winter. I'm definitely going to try that one again in the Spring (since another Palmtalker has one not far from me that is doing well). Surprised to hear Mammy didn't work for you though. I've got it in multiple places in my yard and it's the most reliable croton type for me. 

[Xerarch]

Just now, iDesign said:

Weird! My stoplight died, although it was super-tiny and an abnormally cold winter. I'm definitely going to try that one again in the Spring (since another Palmtalker has one not far from me that is doing well). Surprised to hear Mammy didn't work for you though. I've got it in multiple places in my yard and it's the most reliable croton type for me. 

Maybe I'll have to try it again one of these days

[iDesign]

2 minutes ago, Xerarch said:

Maybe I'll have to try it again one of these days

Maybe try Mammy again with more sun! Mine takes a surprising amount of sun for me. I did go a bit too far once, but it just washed out the color... seems to take a good amount of sun (at least in coastal CA).

[Xerarch]

6 hours ago, Dwarf Fan said:

Do you have any recommendations on “Cold Hardy” Tropical looking flowers or plants with foliage that add a pop of color and a tropical look to the garden?

I do NOT want to do ‘Pride of Barbados’ because it is planted in SO many landscapes here on the Island it is just over used, the same with those Yellow flowering plants they are just too redundant here as well.

I currently only have a gifted Plumeria (no idea on color?) and a salvaged, left for dead Canna lily that survived Palmageddon’21 and is currently thriving under my watch.

I want something different that looks tropical, any suggestions?

Something else I’ll suggest this is quite hardy is a relative of that Pride of Barbados, but hardly ever used but I personally like even though it isn’t as flamboyant, it’s the desert bird of paradise, Erythrostemon gilliesii. Photo below. 

[Xerarch]

4 minutes ago, iDesign said:

Maybe try Mammy again with more sun! Mine takes a surprising amount of sun for me. I did go a bit too far once, but it just washed out the color... seems to take a good amount of sun (at least in coastal CA).

I had them in full blasting sun

[iDesign]

Just now, Xerarch said:

I had them in full blasting sun

👻 - Crotons are evil tricksters (for me at least)

Hopefully your stoplight will behave.

[Looking Glass]

The crotons with the thinnest leaves tend to be the least cold hardy for some reason.  My Picasso’s Paintbrush loses all color and partially defoliates in warm winter here.  I’m not sure if the opposite is true though with fat leaves.  

Mammy, Yellow Mammy, Stoplight, Golddust, Sunny Star, Bananna can all take all day sun here, with enough water.   Most crotons like part sun to part shade though.   

Peters Croton Nursery ships small crotons I think.   He’s a couple of hours north of here.  
https://peterscrotonnursery.com

 

[miamicuse]

I got into crotons a few years back and now have 60 kinds of crotons.  I had about 80 cultivars but I kept rotating out the more common ones or the ones that don't do too well for me.

I like the ones with oak shaped leaves the most, amongst my favorites are:

Ann Rutherford

Arrowhead

Geisha Girl

Louis Dupuy

Raphael

There are some crotons with interrupted leaves, where the vein in the middle of a leaf narrows then enlarged again, such as:

Cornelius Halgrim

Some regular shaped leave cultivars I like are:

Fishbone

Stained Glass with a frog resting on it's leaf

Mosaic

Rudy Bachmann

Milky Way

I have about a dozen that are nameless due to lost tags or where I bought it from they are not sure of the IDs.

 

[miamicuse]

Here are some of the narrow leaf cultivars.

Dreadlocks are fairly common.

Reliance

Pride of Winter Haven

Wesmanii

Broad leaf ones I like General MacArthur

A very common cultivar Magnificent

 

 

[richtrav]

I love crotons but they’re not the easiest, down here they look best in Brownsville where the heavier soil and lower afternoon temperatures help out but they can grow them well on SPI too. None can take 27 fully exposured to the elements for any amount of time, they do best here either under some canopy or on a south wall if they like sun. The best ones I’ve seen down here are Stoplight and Super Stoplight (both very beautiful), Eleanor Roosevelt, Charles Rutherford, Picturatum (slow), King of Siam, Rheedii, Victoria Gold Bells, Franklin Roosevelt, Andreanum, common Petra, Mortii (which needs a lot of sun to color up), Yellow Excurrens, Yellow Mammey, Sunny Star, one unknown that I bought as Bravo (it’s not) and good ole Gold Dust. The last one is the least showy to me but it was the first one to resprout from the base after the ‘21 freeze. The narrow leafed form seems to be harder to grow.

In containers it is easy to lose many varieties if temps drop into the 30s for a few days - it doesn’t even have to freeze - but Stoplight, Duke of Windsor (a Stoplight sport), Captain Kidd, both Roosevelts, Golden Glow, Christian’s Landscape, and a few others have tolerated many winters for me over the past 12-15 years in pots. If a freeze is coming I will push them up under the south eave of the house; in ‘21 I stapled plastic sheets on the south side but it still dropped to 30 inside the plastic. Ones that have been killed in pots during cool/cold spells in pots include Fishbone and Zanzibar (both very tender), Piecrust, Mammey, President Reagan, Banana, Veitchii, Pinocchio, AFD5, Excellent, and that non-spotted sport of Johanna Coppinger, I can’t remember the name. In the past couple of years I’ve had good luck with Stewartii, Nestor, Queen Victoria, Robert Lavoris, Kentucky, Caribbean Star, and usually Buddy, though it can rot and/or wilt sometimes. Royal Flush also tried to rot on me, the soil should never get “muddy” in pots or you can expect rot to set in at seemingly random times during the year. The leaves on Nestor easily wilt if it gets the least bit dry but it recovers quickly. I don’t think it can handle a ‘21 type freeze, I haven’t seen any older ones down here.

You can also grow Clipper in the ground but not in a pot, it cannot tolerate cold roots. If it freezes down it recovers faster than most. There are a couple of nice ones in Matamoros yards (Andreanum too). For me they look great when you bring them back from Flarida but if they defoliate over the winter they tend to come back with less colorful leaves. Same with Baron le Compte, which can also get chlorotic if it has to keep coming back. Eleanor Roosevelt and Caribbean Star, on the other hand, come back with their markings very well. Rheedii also does better in the ground than in pots, it is seen in several yards in the old part of Brownsville near St Joseph’s.

What most people do down here is put out Mammey as a sort of perishable landscape plant, it takes lots of sun and heat if you keep it watered and can come back from the base IF you mulch it but it recovers so slowly it is just easier to replant new ones, they’re cheap. Their sun tolerance and compact growth habit make them popular landscape plants. Probably the best overall croton is Eleanor Roosevelt, it comes back at a decent pace, if it defoliates it returns with the variegated leaves, it grows well, is easy and colors up in either sun or shade. But it’s just green, that’s its only drawback. The best showy croton is Stoplight and presumably Super Stoplight too, I’ve only tried SS after ‘21 but it seems to behave like Stoplight. It likes a good amount sun to color up well, in shade it is often green and black. It recovers from cold more slowly than Eleanor Roosevelt but all the ones I know of came back from ‘21. Franklin Roosevelt looks like a more colorful Eleanor but again is slower.

Charles Rutherford would be a good old-fashioned obscure croton to try, it is relatively fast and has not had issues so far with brief upper 20s or rot. I got a cutting off one at UTRGV-Brownsville that survived ‘21 in a breezeway after freezing back about half way. King of Siam is also good but the showy colors you see in Flarida turn into just green and yellow after a few winters. I have high hopes for Caribbean Star but need more winters to try it out, it is at least as showy as Stoplight. One that I really want is Christiana, it is supposed to be one of the hardiest out there but is slow. Stewartii in Flarida has a reputation as being very hardy but I can’t tell much difference between it and the others in the yard, it will send up shoots from down low near the base like Gold Dust that is probably why it has been in Florida (sorry, Flarida) for so long. They tend to look dull here and aren’t all that attractive. This mystery one that was mislabeled as Bravo has also been good.

I have some pictures from down here if you’d like to see any. Note that aside from ‘21 most areas in urban Brownsville or McAllen have not gone much below 28-29 since then. Before ‘21 the 2011 freeze did a number on most of them down here if they weren’t up against a south wall. There are Rheedii, Stoplight, Andreanum and Eleanor Roosevelt that were here long before 2011. All need plenty of water but they can take bad well water better than most plants and it is very rare to see them go chlorotic.

Have you thought about Copper plants (Acalypha)? They are way faster than any croton and more tolerant of abuse. Ti plants are also a lot more tolerant of neglect, take mild cold better and can come back to almost their original size within one year. And bromeliads, you could grow some really beautiful beach bromeliads like Neoregelia cruenta in full sun on the barrier island. They grow in full sun on the dunes around Rio de Janeiro. Good forms of cruenta will be partially to completely red. Mine did well in ‘21, only some burn.

[Looking Glass]

1 hour ago, richtrav said:

Have you thought about Copper plants (Acalypha)? They are way faster than any croton and more tolerant of abuse. Ti plants are also a lot more tolerant of neglect, take mild cold better and can come back to almost their original size within one year. And bromeliads, you could grow some really beautiful beach bromeliads like Neoregelia cruenta in full sun on the barrier island. They grow in full sun on the dunes around Rio de Janeiro. Good forms of cruenta will be partially to completely red. Mine did well in ‘21, only some burn.

That Copperleaf (Acalypha wilkesiana) is way faster than any croton.   10x faster.   Much more drought tolerant also.  Comes in greens, white to creams, and red combinations.    I love the reds.  Here you have to hack 2 feet off 4x per year to keep them at bay.   

 

Neoregelia cruenta is a tough, sun tolerant, fairly large Neo.   Takes full sun and no irrigation here.   Comes in greens, and silver combos, and various hybrids, but the nicest is “rubra” IMO.  Here it is at various ages…..  pups are only slightly tinted maroon brown at first.  They get very red in full sun with age.  

Green cruentas are all over the neighborhood here as people give pups away.  Very tough and easy. 

[richtrav]

That top bromeliad looks like a cruenta rubra hybrid I have in the yard that is a really vigorous grower (do I see some Stoplights in there 😛?) My favorite copper plant is one I got from Black Olive nursery in Lauderdale that they called Tiki Jungle Cloak, or something like that

 

[metalfan]

Where on North Padre do you live? I grew up in Rockport and lived at the beach in Port Aransas.

I like my crotons but don;t try them outside anymore. Lost a few over the past 32 years we have lived here in Florida, but, it's getting warmer here every winter...it may be possible in a couple years. Until then I grow them in my greenhouse. Some have been painted in the ground in there since 2002 when it was built, others I have in pots and take out in Spring as accent plants around the yard. One of my old faves is Picasso's Paintbrush (photos 1-2).Piecrust (photo 3).Lauren's Rainbow (photo 4) Mrs. Iceton and Andrew, photo 5   Eleanor Roosevelt (aka Sloppy Painter) last pic

 

[metalfan]

My Thai Rose Croton is growing well

[Dwarf Fan]

Looking Glass

Miamicuse

iDESIGN

^^^ Beautiful vibrant colorful Croton pics thanks for sharing ya’ll at least I can enjoy them this way if not in my garden! 

iDESIGN - that 4th pic would probably end up being my Croton here in 9b with our occasional arctic blasts! 🫣

Xerarch - Thanks for mentioning the variegated ginger, those look interesting.

Yes, the Esperanza/Yellowbells is the one that I’m not a fan of in addition to the pride of Barbados because of the prevalence in use here locally.

The “desert bird of paradise” looks too desert like as well. I’m trying to find that sweet spot with cold hardiness (or at least the ability to regrow from the roots after being frozen) but still very tropical looking colorful plants/flowers.

richtrav - That Cristiana looks interesting and palmpedia mentions it’s both wind and cold tolerant hmmm… But that is discouraging about the color not coming back vibrant and Crotons being more of an annual around here in South Texas, I guess they are just not ment for my garden.

That copper plant called ‘Tiki Jungle Cloak’ looks really cool I like the tricolor look much better than the mono color or variegated look. 
 

Metalfan - I am near Whitecap Beach.

 

Here are some colorful hopefully cold hardy tropical alternatives that I am looking at, any input is welcome.

Hibiscus syriacus ‘Purple Satin’

Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Lord Baltimore’

Heliconia 'Tropics Fleur'

 Hedychium coccineum 'Slim's Orange'

Plumeria ‘Rainbow’

[richtrav]

Finally found a picture I was looking for, it’s at a fast food restaurant in McAllen taken in 2022. It uses Menehune crinum and variegated Dianella for color, then with some Thryallis, green crinum, and Strelitzia. If that’s not enough foilage color you could add some of that Cuban gold Duranta, it also does well here