Love the first one you pictured there, Scot. Got a name? Crotons just are too garish for my taste, for the most part - the ones with all the colors splashed and spotted all over, too much! Nothing else goes well with them. The only multi-colored one I kind of like is the narrow-leaf one - I think it's called Picasso's Paintbrush. Not so big and splashy, very pretty.
@junglegal have you tried any of the insecticides with Spinosad? They're relatively benign, even rated for use on organic veggies. If you spray in the late evening, you should not hit any bees or butterflies. I've been using Capt. Jack's Dead Bug Brew (love that name) and it's available at Home Depot or Lowe's. Glad you're not using the neonic stuff.
Also in the cool weather (some time next November . .. ???
) you can use dormant oil spray on them for scale. It's very effective. Just have to again be careful not to actually hit any bees.
