Croton: Houseplant of the Month for October

This colourful beauty is a very distinctive personality with colours that you would not readily put together but that still look amazing.

Green, yellow, red, orange, brown, purple, black – flamboyant Croton brings autumn’s glow into your home. It’s a very eye-catching plant with thick, shiny leaves. Mother Nature certainly had an exceptionally good day when she came up with this beauty. The best-known is the multicoloured Croton, but there are also varieties with just yellow and green markings. You have the choice of small or large leaves, and there is also one with narrow wavy leaves. How much variety would you like?

Croton grows in Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia as a shrub. In the wild the plant can reach a height of three metres with 30 cm long leaves. It’s more modestly sized in the living room.

True and honest

Croton is a plant for people who have had enough of filters, photoshopping, the perfect picture and keeping up appearances. It’s different from most foliage plants, comes in bizarre shapes and changes colour idiosyncratically and is disarming in its authenticity. A real personality in the home with an unconventional look that is totally on-trend for those that can handle it.

You can do more than you think

Croton’s symbolic meaning is becoming better by learning and training. That comes from the mythical wrestler Milo of Croton, who effortlessly carried a large ox up a mountain every day. He started doing it when the ox was still a calf. As the calf grew Milo became ever stronger without noticing thanks to the increasing load.

5 reasons for picking Croton

• Fabulous indoor autumn colours #IndianSummer
• Croton is the sort of plant about which people say: “What on earth is that?”
• It’s a plant that’s does incredibly well on Instagram
• You can spend hours looking at it and still constantly find new patterns.
• Croton has the slightly raw urban look that is currently trending as an interiors style.

A note on the name

Croton conquered many living rooms in the 1970s. It is one of the most recognisable houseplants with a name that is also easy to pronounce. Purists believe that you should really call it Codiaeum variegatum. But Croton is such a popular, well-established name that you can still use it: everyone will know straightaway what you’re talking about.

How to style Croton

Croton fits with the urban interiors trend that rejects the perfectable world and embraces a hint of street culture with its bright colours. Place it in a nice recycled tin, in a rubber pot made out of car tyres or in a container that is as colourful as the plant itself. It can be industrial and bold to make Croton a contemporary showstopper.

Caring for Croton

• Croton likes a light spot, but preferably not in full sun in summer.
• The soil can remain slightly damp, but excess water must be able to drain.
• Leaf drop indicates too little light, a position that is too cool or too much water. Croton thrives in peaceful surroundings at room temperature.
• A bit of plant food once a fortnight is enough.
• Croton loves being sprayed – it prevents red spider mite.

For more information see: www.Thejoyofplants.co.uk

Published on: 21 September 2020