The middle of January and I'm trimming the Pritchardias. The majority of these crotons were panted in October - so they could use a bit more sun for establishment. This area has substantially less sun exposure during the winter months, Its perfect during the long summer days.Taking a gamble that a severe arctic blast does not happen. Opening up the canopy could hurt the crotons if that occurs. The Pritchardias would like to have the extra leaves during such a cold event.

The commitment was made - we'll see how it plays out. Only 44 days until March 1st.

Nice garden shots! Which species of Pritchardia are you growing? P. pacifica and P. thurstonii are too tropical for me, but I've had some luck with the Hawaiian species so far. P. munroi and P. remota seem to be great growers, with P. beccariana, P. hillebrandii, and P. schattaueri performing well but disliking too much sun. P. arecina struggles to grow here but I've managed to keep one alive for a few years.

Nice garden shots! Which species of Pritchardia are you growing? P. pacifica and P. thurstonii are too tropical for me, but I've had some luck with the Hawaiian species so far. P. munroi and P. remota seem to be great growers, with P. beccariana, P. hillebrandii, and P. schattaueri performing well but disliking too much sun. P. arecina struggles to grow here but I've managed to keep one alive for a few years.

Keith - my largest is P pacifica. Pretty mild winters the last four years here so it has been looking real good. I think size does matter, a bit more cold hardy but still does not want to see 40's F for an extended time,

2nd largest is P thurstonii, never had a problem with it can take 40's well gets some cold burn in the 30's

Yes there is a P hillbrandii there.

4th one P remota

The 5th is an sp. that someone gave me. They had collected a handful of seed while in Hawaii and gave me a two gallon plant as a birthday gift. If looks distinct from the others to my eye but I don't know enough about Pritchardia to know what it is. It is one of my favorite genus going back to the beginning of my palm addiction.

The extra light will make the plants stronger! Bring those 50's right here...LOL

nice pic's moose. I really like the addition of crotons in your garden.

Nice garden shots! Which species of Pritchardia are you growing? P. pacifica and P. thurstonii are too tropical for me, but I've had some luck with the Hawaiian species so far. P. munroi and P. remota seem to be great growers, with P. beccariana, P. hillebrandii, and P. schattaueri performing well but disliking too much sun. P. arecina struggles to grow here but I've managed to keep one alive for a few years.

Keith - my largest is P pacifica. Pretty mild winters the last four years here so it has been looking real good. I think size does matter, a bit more cold hardy but still does not want to see 40's F for an extended time,

2nd largest is P thurstonii, never had a problem with it can take 40's well gets some cold burn in the 30's

Yes there is a P hillbrandii there.

4th one P remota

The 5th is an sp. that someone gave me. They had collected a handful of seed while in Hawaii and gave me a two gallon plant as a birthday gift. If looks distinct from the others to my eye but I don't know enough about Pritchardia to know what it is. It is one of my favorite genus going back to the beginning of my palm addiction.

Is the 5th one the tiny one to the left of the coconut? I, too, have taken a big gamble this winter by planting a lot of my palms in mid-January. I had planned to wait until spring but we had such a warm December that I couldn't resist. We haven't seen any temps below 40 F this winter, so I'm hoping this trend holds.

Nice garden shots! Which species of Pritchardia are you growing? P. pacifica and P. thurstonii are too tropical for me, but I've had some luck with the Hawaiian species so far. P. munroi and P. remota seem to be great growers, with P. beccariana, P. hillebrandii, and P. schattaueri performing well but disliking too much sun. P. arecina struggles to grow here but I've managed to keep one alive for a few years.

Keith - my largest is P pacifica. Pretty mild winters the last four years here so it has been looking real good. I think size does matter, a bit more cold hardy but still does not want to see 40's F for an extended time,

2nd largest is P thurstonii, never had a problem with it can take 40's well gets some cold burn in the 30's

Yes there is a P hillbrandii there.

4th one P remota

The 5th is an sp. that someone gave me. They had collected a handful of seed while in Hawaii and gave me a two gallon plant as a birthday gift. If looks distinct from the others to my eye but I don't know enough about Pritchardia to know what it is. It is one of my favorite genus going back to the beginning of my palm addiction.

Is the 5th one the tiny one to the left of the coconut? I, too, have taken a big gamble this winter by planting a lot of my palms in mid-January. I had planned to wait until spring but we had such a warm December that I couldn't resist. We haven't seen any temps below 40 F this winter, so I'm hoping this trend holds.

No its this one

The small one next to the Coconut is P remota. Don't know why it has slowly grown, it was planted the same time as the other 3 large ones in June 2006.

Moose, you should do a full garden photo tour if you could find the time including corotons! Your place looks exceptional!!!!!

Moose, you should do a full garden photo tour if you could find the time including corotons! Your place looks exceptional!!!!!

Thank you for your kind words. The garden was started just over 20 years ago. Not a huge lot but a respectable size. In the beginning, already a huge palm fan, I went crazy trying to get one of everything. My first book was Betrock's Landscape Palms, I was trying to acquire one of each. There was actually an initial game plan and design but that quickly was tossed aside. The best thing to happen to me is I killed many things over the years. If everything I ever killed had survived, it could easily fill a 5 acre lot.

There are many palms on the property and some very large. Unfortunately they are grouped so close together that they don't photograph well. The garden is a continual work in progress and trust me there are some unsightly areas. Most of my labors are directed towards maintenance. Falling fronds is one of them. Trimming the taller ones takes time as well, ladders sawing, removal and getting rid of. Composting as much as a can but big fronds take too long and I don't have enough property to dedicate to that. Municipal mulch is utilized here so the garden does consume more mulch then debris that leave.

Here is the frond pile of doom from yesterday's work. Its my neighbor's pile that he allowed me to dump on. 80% of it is my debris.

My croton addiction has gotten out of hand. Currently there are 279 different cultivars planted and another 49 in waiting in containers.

Short answer - a photographic over all garden tour does not work. The garden is simple too busy, its a garden that the eye needs to witness.

Understandable. Im getting into crotons too to add some colour to the rising grey trunks everywhere. Some crotons are just spectacular but there's not even a croton society over here. It seems they are considered old fashioned. So we have to resort to mass grown cultivars.

As for the pile of fronds, I have a very similar sight at my place, and my garden's only young. I shudder to think how big that piles gonna be soon! I think a compost pile is in order.

Understandable. Im getting into crotons too to add some colour to the rising grey trunks everywhere. Some crotons are just spectacular but there's not even a croton society over here. It seems they are considered old fashioned. So we have to resort to mass grown cultivars.

As for the pile of fronds, I have a very similar sight at my place, and my garden's only young. I shudder to think how big that piles gonna be soon! I think a compost pile is in order.

Crotons were in their hey day during the 1950's and 60's here. Right after WW II, many new homes and subdivisions popped up. Due to the work of the Miami Hybridizers in the 1920's and 30's - there was plenty of colorful interesting new varieties readily available. Old varieties were also plentiful since the Reasoners began introducing them into Florida at the turn of the century. Prior to the introduction by the Reasoners, crotons were grown up in the North East as green house plants. All the new homes - crotons were planted in mass here. Plus they were found in the many of the old neighborhoods. When Dr. Frank Brown published the very first book dedicated to crotons, Florida's Beautiful Crotons, in 1960 - the plant nurseries here were hard pressed to propagate material to meet the demand.

In the 1970's, there were many new types of plants introduced here, especially many new palm species. The population was growing exponentially and many new homes were being built. The price of air conditioning a home had dropped and this was a major factor to the migration. By the late 70's and 80's the interest in crotons had fallen off. There was just so much new and interesting plants available. In the 1980's, crotons were viewed as "something my grandma used to grow".

There remained a small contingent of croton lovers who had collected and saved many of the varieties. When Dr. Frank Brown publishes Crotons of the World in 1995, interest was renewed but at a rather slow pace. Eventually the International Croton Society was formed with its core membership being in the Tampa / St. Petersberg, FL area. The society did an outstanding job promoting the use of crotons in the landscape. They would set up booths at plant shows and sell Dr Brown's book. If you joined the Society, the book was offered at half price to the new member. Interest in crotons increased at a slow but steady rate. Then in the mid 2000's, there use really started catching on. Ray Hernandez (IPS Director and avid croton collector) declared it a Croton Renaissance.

The interest has continued to grow. There are so many cultivars available now, you simply could not acquire them all. At a recent croton auction at Mike Harris' (Waykoolplantz) garden, over 70 people attended. This is the hard core group of collectors that bring the rarest most sought after cultivars. A croton going for over $100 at this auction is common. Because of this group, many of the rare much sought after cultivars have been established and are slowly getting introduced to more and more gardens. Many of these folks remember when they started their croton collections and often give up plants really cheap or even give away just to keep promoting their use.

Sending plants or even cuttings to Australia is kinda tough. Australia is very proactive about the introductions. Quarantine times usually mean the death of the material, especially cuttings. If you are interested in having procuring crotons that are not the massed produced ones, this is the only source that I am aware of in Australia: http://gardendrum.com/2013/06/28/growing-crotons-the-croton-lady-of-bundaberg/

_{Great shots of your "work in progress". I'm envious of your P. pacificas, one of my favorite palms. I lost mine to the cold a few years back even though it had about 8 feet of clear wood and I thought it was in a "protected" spot in the yard. About 10 miles north of me there is a grove of them exsposed to the north wind but along the intercoastal waterway that all survived the cold with no problem...go figure.}

Pretty shots! I like the look!!!

Great garden. Love the color the crotons bring.