Four More ...

[Moose]

1st is Charles Rutherford. Was looking better in the summertime.

2nd is John Bender #2 (Maximum). Got beat up last winter and has not returned to its former self.

3rd is Mrs. Snyder Disraeli, see the "blotched sport" on the left.

4th Pie Crust was defoliated last winter. Then got attacked by scale in the spring. It has made a long road back to its current condition.

 

[Croton Guru]

1st is Charles Rutherford. Was looking better in the summertime.

2nd is John Bender (Maximum). Got beat up last winter and has not returnred toits former self.

3rd is Mrs. Snyder Disraeli, see the "blotched sport" on the left.

4th Pie Crust was defoliated last winter. Then got attacked by scale in the spring. It has made a long road back to its current condition.

Moose on #2 you say John Bender (Maximum) if your thinking it was named after John Bender your Mistaken. Maximum has been around before John was born. Now there is a similiar croton with small leafs there calling John Bender but Maximum isnt it. Sorry

 

[ScotTi]

Ron, Pie Crust is a favorite of mine. Had 3 plantings of it in 2009, but the winter took them out. They never showed back up in the BB stores in 2010. I will get another in 2011. I finally got a replacement Zanzibar 2 weeks ago.

 

[Moose]

Moose on #2 you say John Bender (Maximum) if your thinking it was named after John Bender your Mistaken. Maximum has been around before John was born. Now there is a similiar croton with small leafs there calling John Bender but Maximum isnt it. Sorry

I have the "small leaf" John Bender, that actually wants to be in shade although it is a green & yellow cultivar. The one pictured here has very large leaves with reddish hues on the underside of the leaves. It was sold to me as John Bender #2 with in parenthesis (Maximum) on the tag. I will leave it as such until someone can give me a positive id of what it is. It also sets seed readily and I have some nice seedlings with color beneath it.

 

[Croton Guru]

I have the "small leaf" John Bender, that actually wants to be in shade although it is a green & yellow cultivar. The one pictured here has very large leaves with reddish hues on the underside of the leaves. It was sold to me as John Bender #2 with in parenthesis (Maximum) on the tag. I will leave it as such until someone can give me a positive id of what it is. It also sets seed readily and I have some nice seedlings with color beneath it.

OK, its surely a Maximum but anything Bender no, John was a collector not a Hybridizer. Thats the problem once again with many IDers Misnaming plants .

 

[Moose]

What a difference 5 months makes. Here are some updated photos of the Charles Rutherford. By the way, if you took home the only rooted cutting of Charles Rutherford available at our most recent Croton Garden Tour auction, this is the plant from which the cutting was harvested from.

 

[Moose]

Five months later ... Maximum.

Earlier in the thread this cultivar had an ID as John Bender #2 (Maximum). My search for an answer as to the reasoning for this data to be recorded on the tag may have been resolved. Often when a collector obtains material from someone's garden and there is no immediate ID, they will record the name of the plant as to it's source origin. When a definitive ID has been realized, a correction to the tag is made but often retaining the information from where the ascension was made.

With this reasoning, this croton's correct identification is Maximum that came from John Bender's garden. The #2 denotes that it may have been the second piece of material harvested.

 

[Moose]

Mrs. Snyder Disraeli. An AeAe banana was growing near this plant keeping it in a good amount of shade. A storm blew the banana over onto the half wall next to the Mrs. Synder Disraeli creating heavy, heavy shading. Since the plant had a large stalk of bananas on it, I left the banana in the prone position hoping the fruit would mature. The conduction of water and nutrients to the fruit was compromised and maturation did not happen. Removing the banana suddenly put alot of sun on the plant and sunburning the leaves as a result.

The third photo is a close-up of blotched sport on this croton. It appears that this coloring anolamy will be retained.

 

[Moose]

The same Piecrust five months later looking respectable. There were two rooted cuttings auctioned off at the recent Croton Garden Tour. If you were one of the lucky recipients, this the plant that your cutting came from.