Thank you Randy & Ricky !

[Moose]

Randy and Ricky hosted garden tours yesterday. Both had wonderful collections of crotons and accompaning plants. Ricky's afternoon spread of victuals was outstanding as usual.

I personally want to express my sincere appreciation to both of you.

Thanks also to all who donated the excellent plants for the auction. It was a very enjoyable day.

Kindest regards,

Ron.

 

[Jeff Searle]

I also want to give thanks to our host too. And what great weather we had yesterday!!! I thought the auction went well with many generous offers and some fast pace bidding at times.

Personally for me, the Thea in Ricky's garden is still the show stopper. It's beautiful coloring and size is stunning. And as usual, Ricky was still getting request for an extra plant or cutting to share. In Randy's garden, he has a real pretty, shocking pink color croton that is very new and had not been seen before. There's a long waiting list of people waiting to get a peice of this one. All in all, it was a great outting and for those of you that could not make it, you missed another good tour of two gardens.

 

[junglegal]

Who took the pics?

 

[Jeff Searle]

Who took the pics?

Jim Glock........so wish us some good luck!

 

[Jim Glock]

Randy and Ricky thank you so much for your gracious hospitality at the croton meeting. Both gardens were fantastic. Randy had the help of his pooch and Beazer the bird, who talks better than most twenty year olds....no offense y. Then it was off to Ricky the King of Barbeque. The garden was great and the food out of this world....brisket that melts in your mouth. After a great garden tour and feast, our very own Croton Auctioneer Jeff Searle extracted every penny that he could from the crowd. A good time was had by all. Yes I did take pictures. I am sending Connie a disk full to pick some for the newsletter. I will resize some and post when my wife gives me a break from pulling weeds and mulching

Jim & Judy

 

[fawnridge]

Thanks to everyone who came and spent the afternoon here. I'd been drooling over getting that brisket sliced up and onto a roll for weeks. Moose, thanks for the Black Beauty; it and all the other Crotons went in the ground on Sunday.

 

[palmisland]

I really enjoyed everyone visiting my garden. Before that my last visitor was my nephew, who out of all the plants & trees thought one of my Allocasias was kinda cool! All this Croton stuff is worth it if Rickys brisket is the end result.



Randy

 

[fawnridge]

New Crotons in the ground.
1. Black Beauty between Magnificent and Pink Veitchii.
2. Barbara Bush next to Kentucky.
3. Judy's Beauty popping up from the bromeliads.
4. William Jennings Bryan.

 

[Moose]

I really enjoyed everyone visiting my garden. Before that my last visitor was my nephew, who out of all the plants & trees thought one of my Allocasias was kinda cool! All this Croton stuff is worth it if Rickys brisket is the end result.



Randy

Ricky's Tender Brisket and looking at his pink Thea was worth the trip alone. Everything else was simply a super bonus!

 

[Jim Glock]

These are a few shots of Randy's garden. The first is Randy leading the tour.
The second photo is Judy and Jerry admiring one of Randy's crotons. And the third photo is some of the plants in Randy's nursery.

 

[Jim Glock]

Here are three more shots at Randy's garden. The first is a cute little red croton tucked away under a very shady spot. The second picture is a lesson to be learned. One should never, never go to a croton meeting without a shovel in the trunk of a car! This unknown croton was just a show stopper that would suck the breath out of you. This is one that would move you to throw the clippers away and take the shovel out of the trunk. Randy, if you ever get tired of this plant.....please call The last picture I think realy sets off this garden. When you add Beazer the bird to a tropical garden you think you are back in a tropical parrotdise.

 

[Jim Glock]

Food was calling us so after a great time at Randy's we moved on over to Ricky's garden. The first photo taking upon arrival is everyone drooling over the crotons for auction. The second photo is of our host Ricky showing us his Thea. The third photo is a closer shot of Thea which once again reminded me of my missing shovel.

 

[fawnridge]

Jeff - Stop drooling on your keyboard.

 

[Jim Glock]

The second set of three shots at Ricky's start with Ricky's leading the pack through his forest of crotons. The second photo is just a spectacular collage of color and texture....Ricky well done. The third and final photo in this section is our very own Croton Auctioneer "Superba", Jeff Searle working the crowd. What a "Dia Gloriosa".

 

[Crazy for Crotons]

Post #11, photo 2 is Colonel Bob Bullock I tell ya.

Thea is hot!! Ricky, that's one on my wish list for next spring. It's got that pink/purple shading you don't find in many other cultivars. Only Charles Rutherford and Stained Glass come to mind.

 

[Phil Stager]

Ray -
Agree on the very colorfull Col. Bob Bullock - but then how does this differ from the Barbara Bush in Ricky's pic #2 above?

 

[Phil Stager]

..and here's some pics of what I've been calling Col. Bullock. The branch with the deepest pionk leaves is in deep shade - easy to miss. I expect the yellow leaves to turn dark pink as autumn progresses.

 

[palmisland]

Phil, My Col. Bullock & my "pink" one go through different color changes. I gave Ricky one (post 8, #2). Mine was labled Barbara Bush when I got it & is different than Col. Bullock. The first pic is Col. Bullock, the second is the Barbara Bush. I don't think they are the same.

Randy

 

[fawnridge]

Hard to tell these two apart. Perhaps they are both "Bushy Bullocks" ?

 

[Central Floridave]

Thanks for the photos! Pretty croton.

 

[palmisland]

OK, Here's a pic of the momma plant I took today. To me, all in all, it looks like a Col. Bullock. Some of the sports are much pinker than others. Still a magnificent plant. The plant was labled "Barbara Bush"

Randy

 

[Phil Stager]

Ray for anyone else-
What are or who originated each of the plants - BB and Col B - or is this a case of an enterprising individual giving a new name to an old plant?

 

[junglegal]

Call it what you want, where in the world do I get a cutting? Gorgeous plant!

 

[Jeff Searle]

Ray for anyone else-
What are or who originated each of the plants - BB and Col B - or is this a case of an enterprising individual giving a new name to an old plant?

Phil,

I agree. I think it was stated quite some time ago that, the pic. of Barbara Bush in Frank Brown's book was misidentified. So, up until now, I never have seen anyone have a true B.B. until this past saturday when this name came up on this plant. Carol Graff I think had a photo of a similar looking plant and I beleive she was calling it the same name. Who knows, certainly not me.

 

[Crazy for Crotons]

Bob Alonzo identified Colonel Bob Bullock at a Croton Society sale/meeting at Flamingo Gardens (2004?). Someone had it for sale there and he identified it as I purchased it. The plant is described in Dr. Brown's first book so it's an old, legitimate name. The Barbara Bush name is in the new book but I've never seen the plant in person.

 

[Borgy230]

I was at Marie's today, this is what she has as Wilma, and I think its dead on!

 

[palmisland]

Ahhh, A Colonel Wilma Bush Wilma looks like it also. Wake me when you all figure this one out.

Randy

 

[Jeff Searle]

All along, I thought this bright,pink croton is not a Col. Bob Bullock. I think I said earlier that it looked "Wilma-ish" and after seeing it last saturday, personally for me, I see nothing in that resembles my Col BB.

I think what has happened here is, over time, Bob Alonzo has seen two totally different plants and has labeled the Col. BB to both of them. Because, I've seen this pink looking croton and mine that I grow, they are NOT the same.

The Glocks had a nice phone call the other evening and told me later that Bob Alonzo plans on attending the Holiday Croton Tour in Ft Myers coming up in December. It will be at Jim and Judy's house in Ft Myers. I already plan on bringing numerous varieties over for not only him to look at, but for the whole gang to see. I for one, want to try to clear up some confussion on some of these and this is going to be an excellent time to do it.

THIS IS A MUST ATTEND MEETING FOR EVERYONE TO COME TO !!!

 

[Crazy for Crotons]

Wilma??? Named after the hurricane, someone's mother or my old neighbor?

 

[Judy Glock]

Jeff, thanks for the promo for the December meeting. It will be a croton happening. Jim and I are pleased that Bob Alonzo is going to attend. It would be fun to put our heads together and solve some mystery names.

Mulch be our life!

Judy

 

[Borgy230]

Here are some photos of Mr Searle's Colonel Bob Bullock that I took while at the nursery Saturday morning.

 

[palmisland]

Rob, are you sure? That C.B.B. doesn't look even close.



Randy

 

[Borgy230]

Well, talk to Jeff Searle, he said he got that from Bob Alonzo as Bob Bullock, i just posted the pic for Jeff

 

[palmisland]

Here's two of mine that look like Jeff's, but don't look anything like my Col. Bob Bullock at all! Are these the same as Jeff's? They kinda look Thomas Edisonish. Once again, confusion.

Randy

 

[Moose]

When I first saw Randy's "Barbra Bush" that someone later said was Col. Bob Bullock - my intial reaction was I thought it was Wilma. There were persons in attendance that have been doing the croton thing longer than I, so I just listened.

Bottom line - it is a great looking nicely colored cultivar.

 

[Moose]

I am sure that if a rooted cutting of Thea made it to our auction table at our next meeting/garden tour on Saturday, May 14th - it would get much attention $$$?

Food was calling us so after a great time at Randy's we moved on over to Ricky's garden. The first photo taking upon arrival is everyone drooling over the crotons for auction. The second photo is of our host Ricky showing us his Thea. The third photo is a closer shot of Thea which once again reminded me of my missing shovel.