I bought a small croton Petra a few months ago. The yellow and orange veining on the leaves attracted me to it at first but I soon realised that if I was to achieve the maximum leaf colour of bright yellows, oranges and reds, and maintain that colour, then it would have to be placed in good bright, even full sun. And my north facing plant room ain't that!! As a result the leaf colour has faded and now all I have are beautiful glossy green leaves with only a slight hint of faint yellow veining. I plan to change this as best as I can do I can enjoy it's full splendour. At the moment, with it being summer, I've started putting it outside in our south facing garden, moving it inside at night. It is in a shaded position to start with so the occasional blast of full sun can't scorch it. My question is, now I'm unlocking it's potential, how long will it be before those leaf colours start to pop. Is it a very gradually thing or, once it gets acclimatised to the outside brightness, can it literally be within a few days?
Well, this croton of mine really has been a labour of love. No matter how much light, natural or otherwise I have given it, the best I can seem to achieve regarding the bright leaf colouration is what you can see below in the pictures. I'm getting veining colour, but the rest of the leaves are remaining green. These things really do seem to need long long exposure to good bright light to get those leaves to pop. Anyway, it's remained healthy, it's growing quite well, and it hasn't dropped any leaves which they are noted for doing when unhappy. In fact something rather unexpected is happening, something which I never thought I'd see on an indoor croton.....it is developing flower spikes!!! This is great for me, it shows I'm doing something right at least, lol.
Looks healthy enough although like Coleus some cut the flower stem off as the flowers drop everywhere.
I've only tried croton once, it seemed to grow in fits and starts, and never looked great so I've not bothered since. Nice to see a flower spike.
I bought mine back in March, it was very small (see pic) and only a couple of quid. It was amongst some larger specimens and because the light was so bright at the garden centre, the leaves on the larger specimens were stunning. I was looking forward to what mine would turn out like. However, when I researched them it soon became apparent that my north facing window was far from ideal. These things come from Florida and other such exotic places, where they grow at the side of the roads like huge beautiful weeds! They crave the intense bright light to thrive. I doubt I'll ever see mine in it's full pomp and glory, but it is a lovely plant nonetheless.
