CROTONS 335 



Grotons for Christmas 



What you want is that the basket shall look well, shall look its 

 best, on Christmas Day; that is what counts most. Pandanus 

 Veitchii, Dracaenas and these Crotons are the plants to use in 

 connection with others, especially during times when flowers and 

 flowering plants are scarce or at their highest price level. Yet, 

 even with flowers galore, these Crotons are just as desirable, for 

 they are every bit as beautiful. While there is such a thing as try- 

 ing to get^ along without them, you will, by using them, do more 

 business, make more money and (as important as anything, perhaps) 

 show your patrons who have seen them used one. way or another 

 elsewhere, that you are uptodate. 



Diu-ing the Summer months Crotons should be used more 

 freely for decorative purposes in the store and show house. They 

 go well with your display of tuberous-rooted Begonias, fancy leaf 

 Caladiums and Gloxinias. You can also use Crotons to advantage 

 in filUng outdoor window boxes. In places a little too shady for 

 flowers, what better material could you have to take their 

 place than Grotons? Or you can bed them out. Plants can be 

 safely set outdoors by the first of June, giving them a little protec- 

 tion from the sun. If you wish, they can be left in the pots, but 

 in this case bury the pots, getting the rims a couple of inches below 

 the surface. If you can Uft the plants again during September, 

 give them a shift and place them in a 55- or 60-deg. house, where they 

 wiU come along all right. 



The leaves of Grotons are excellent for use in wreaths the same 

 as Magnolia leaves. They provide a welcome change. 



Cultural Notes 



Heat and then some more heat is what Crotons require. Let 

 them have a steady temperature of 65 or even 70 deg., plenty of 

 sunlight, enough moisture and they wiU flourish. With the same 

 temperature but a dry atmosphere, such as prevails in our homes, 

 they soon drop their leaves. 



When you are once established and get a shipment of plants 

 in November, if they haven't suffered in transit, they wiU show no 

 bad effects if given a 60-deg. temperature or even less for a month 

 or so, but they cannot stand it long. 



It would be folly for the retail grower to attempt to grow 

 Crotons from cuttings and make them pay, when a bottom heat of 

 80 deg. and a house of 70 deg. is required to do it. We have today 

 specialists who grow them by the houseful. I suggest that those 

 who like to handle them purchase in May or June what they want 

 for Summer trade; then another lot in late Fall for their Christmas 

 demands; and perhaps stiU another lot later on. 



