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| My croton has just sprung this strange flower thing from the top. See link below.
I didn't much like it at first, but the blooms grew on me. Now they are sorta dead looking (don't have pictures of that). SO, my question is; now what? Should I snip that whole flower finger thing off? If I stick it back in the pot will something new grow!? Maybe I should just leave it? The plant itself is thriving and colorful! Also, this is my first post, so I hope I'm doing the pictures right. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Croton Flower
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by marguerite Ireland (My Page) on Tue, May 22, 12 at 7:43
| Extraordinary, I never saw one in flower before. What family are crotons in? For some reason I thought euphorbia family but the flowers look different. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, May 22, 12 at 9:17
| That's awesome! I didn't know they flowered, either. Does it look like it's forming seeds? |
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- Posted by teengardener1888 none (My Page) on Tue, May 22, 12 at 10:31
| that is in the euphorbia family. it looks different because the euphorbia family is very diverse and one of the most diverse in the plant kingdom. BloomingBecca, a croton blooming is extremely rare as a houseplant. they flower only in exeptional care. good job, you should be very proud of your croton. the leaves are very colorful |
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- Posted by hopefulauthor z5IL (hopefulauthor@sbcglobal.net) on Tue, May 22, 12 at 14:03
| Becca, gorgeous. Very few Crotons bloom indoors. Heck, it's difficult growing Crotons in the house. You've done a great job. Don't know if you should cut the flower stalk. If it were mine, I'd wait and enjoy. Maybe it will produce seeds, a guess. Toni |
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- Posted by plantomaniac08 8a (My Page) on Tue, May 22, 12 at 15:58
| Perhaps a rare sight for the most of us, thanks for sharing. Those flowers are astonishing! How long have you had your Croton? Planto |
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- Posted by pirate_girl Zone7 NYC (My Page) on Tue, May 22, 12 at 16:41
| Congratulations to you Becca, What a pretty sight to see & quite impressive! I've only ever seen Crotons in bloom in FLA, outdoors on plants that were 6 ft. tall at least. That you managed this indoors is outstanding! I'd suggest you keep on giving exactly the same care to this plant, since it's so happy w/ you. Pls. keep giving it that much light or more (less will lose the plant's multi-coloring & it'll become plain green). I expect once the blooms have faded, you can just pull (yank, maybe give it a good tug or 2) & it'll come out & discard it. I'm pretty sure it won't grow anything, it's just spent blooms. Yes, Crotons are in the family Euphorbia, I believe they're called Codaeum. |
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- Posted by hopefulauthor z5IL (hopefulauthor@sbcglobal.net) on Tue, May 22, 12 at 17:26
| Karen, yep, Crotons are in the Euphorbia Family. Codiaeum variegatum. What I didn't know is, there's a garden Croton, in the Spurge/Euphorbiaceae. Common name is Rushfoil and Croton. It's used for food, medicine and biofuel. Weird, huh? Other than the name, these two Crotons are dissimilar in looks. |
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- Posted by BloomingBecca none (My Page) on Tue, May 22, 12 at 19:03
| Hooray! I've had the plant about a year now. It is my first houseplant and has always been super colorful. We did have a tragedy this winter; I left it alone for about a month and it dropped lots of it's bottom leaves. I tried my hand at air propagating it earlier this spring. I actually blogged about that adventure here: http://craftsofmassdestruction.blogspot.com/2012/05/croton-conundrum-h ow-to-air-layer.html My blog has some nice pictures of the colorful leaves too. Also, the blooms looked pretty bad, so I did snip it. I just laid it in the pot, even if nothing grow, I don't reckon it will hurt anything. Here is another question: I have a hook right above were the croton lives and would like to add a new hanging plant. What would like similar conditions to the croton? Any suggestions? |
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- Posted by plantomaniac08 8a (My Page) on Tue, May 22, 12 at 22:16
| Becca, I think it would be a little difficult to say what plant you could place above your Croton without knowing what kind of lighting your Croton is receiving (is it in a South window or an East/West window? How many hours a day of direct sun does that location receive on average?). I'm assuming that the window where you have your Croton receives quite a bit of lighting considering it's happy and has bloomed, but could you provide a little more detail? Just to make a shot in the dark though, perhaps a Hoya would do well in that location? Planto |
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- Posted by BloomingBecca none (My Page) on Wed, May 23, 12 at 0:43
| Planto-Yeah! The croton sits in front of a glass patio door facing West. Seems to get pretty bright light all day long. I just googled Hoya and like them! Do all varieties bloom or just some? I would love something that has some color. Becca |
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