Around the district, the crotons are in flower.The flowers are interesting (to butterflies, as well as to us), but not actually particularly showy. With these plants, it is the scatter of bright orange leaves which are the main attraction. Every leaf turns bright orange before it dies, but unlike deciduous trees which use up all their glory in less than a month, crotons ration the display so it lasts all year.
New leaves are pale silver-brown, and the adult leaves all have silver backs, which show every time the trees is ruffled by the breeze. The bark is pale, too, so the overall effect is of a light-coloured tree.
These are very fast-growing small trees, suitable for the suburbs, and very useful for new gardens. When young they like a semi-shaded position and shelter from frosts.
They are equally happy in heavy blacksoil and our very lightest redsoil.
Though usually grown as single-trunked specimens, they can be pruned as a hedge, or coppiced (cut back to the ground) when they respond by producing multiple stems and re-growing as shrubs.










