dyzzypyxxy said: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.
Like Scott, I layer my crotons into the beds. There are 600+ cultivers and the possibilities endless. I will eventually post some of my favorites here soon. I understand what you mean by garish, landscapers tend to use them improperly and stick to the same 5 or so big box store varieties. Crotons are one of the true Florida plants as almost all have been hybridized here. The amount of new plants coming out is staggering too. We have some fantastic growers here. The problem with these plants though is that they are genetically unstable so air layering is really the only way to go for propagating. Any plant can spontaneously 'sport' too. Some of the most sought after varieties were sports of the older hybrids. The croton society group (I use that loosely as we collect no dues) is a fantastic way to quickly bulk up one's collection. We meet 2x a year in FL. One east coast meeting, one west.
As far as my scale battle, I use a lot of coffee grounds and spray them often with a soapy peroxide mix. I'm not above the hand squish either. I was using organicide with great results but my 3 dogs kept brushing into the plants and I can't stand the smell on them. The scale will subside over time. My new garden is less than 2 yrs old and just struggling to establish while my canopy grows.
