Carol those Crown of Thorns are beautiful! And you are right liking them a lot, they take the sun so well. I saw some very pretty arrangements at the Leu in high planters using them together with succulents and cactus type of plants.
When I went to Kathy/katkin house some years ago, she had two beautiful planters in her sunny front yard with what else but Crown of Thorns.

Silvia

They're pretty! I have a big flowered red one and have been looking for a similar one in yellow. I know I saw them at Walmart a year or two ago but haven't seen them since. I'll have to check HD.
Marcia

It is interesting how the bracts change colors as they age. The bracts below are all on the same stem - the lightest at the top of the photo is the newest. They fade to true red and then to dark red.

Carol

We've grown a great specimen from a tiny cutting over the last four years, but I never know how to take care of it. It is in a pot. How often should I water it (I usually don't during the cold, and water it maybe once a week in summer - more in high heat)? Should I fertilize it? Repot? When? Over the years I've nearly killed the thing several times, but its always come back - but I've never been able to figure out how to treat it, except for with caution, or just neglect.

O, I'm not an expert. I did a failed experiment last year. I now think I would have had better results if I had put the mother plants (not the cuttings, but the "bases") in full sun. Letting the cuttings rest in shade is the right thing to do but letting the mother plants rest in shade is the wrong thing to do. Crown of thorns (COTs, for short) thrives in full sun but I kept them on a shady porch so of course, nothing happened. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Anyway, I digress.

I have to keep my plants in pots as COTs do not tolerate a freeze. We get one or two hard freezes in Jacksonville every single year, so it is not possible to plant them in the ground here and have them survive. Where you live, I think, many people plant them in the ground. Yardvaark, in the link above, has a picture of them planted in a yard in Tampa.

I don't think you can over-watered them in summer if they are in full sun. But you are right to water sparingly in winter. When I pot mine up, in order to provide good drainage, I usually fill the bottom quarter of the pot with pine bark. I also add a good amount of shredded pine bark mulch to my potting mix. It is funny that I usually find purchased COTs in a very thick, heavy, mucky potting soil. Is that really the best thing? (Serious question. Not being sarcastic.) You would think that growers would know best. But then I think, maybe they just use the cheapest mix, not necessarily what is best for the plant? I don't know. But it sure is a thick, heavy soil they are usually in. And I continue to repot them in my quick draining mix. Maybe a big mistake? I'm not sure.

My rule of thumb with most any plant is that when you stand back and look at the entire plant and pot, 2/3 of a plant should be the part that you see above the soil and 1/3 should be the pot and what's in the pot. In other words, the pot should not be the same size as the plant - that is too big a pot, nor should the plant be waaaaay bigger than the pot it is in. What is above the pot should be twice the size as what is in the pot. When the plant (above the soil) starts to look three times bigger than the roots and soil in the pot, it is time to repot. Repotting is best done right at the cusp of growing season (late February or very early March).

I fertilize mine at the beginning of the growing season (about four weeks ago in Jacksonville) with a slow release fertilizer topped with a small amount of fresh pine bark mulch. But any time I am watering with fish emulsion or any other type of liquid fertilizer, I hit the COTs , too.

So that's just what I do for my plants - not sure if it is right or wrong.

Here is a very cool link:

Tropica Nursery - The Euphorbia Story

Carol in Jacksonville

Yes, I love COT and have both the dwarf and full sized in many colors. I even have a thornless COT. lol

Carol, love your happy profile picture!

Kathy, you know so much about plants, please let us know about the thornless variety, I will be interested...

Silvia

Silvia, and I love your profile picture! You inspired me to go ahead and add one. I love all your happy plants around you.

Mine was taken last weekend at the Starke Strawberry Festival. That is a giant strawberry behind me.

Kathy, I'd like to know about your thornless COT, too!

Carol

Wow Carol! great looking picture like the song happy, happy,lol. And you could do a modeling job....gardening for you is working miracles....

Silvia

Oh Silvia, if you could only see me on just about any day in the yard... tshirt thrown on - right side out or inside out, doesn't matter - hair up in a chip clip - yesterday's mascara under my eyes - loads of dirt under my nails - stains on everything - there was so much work involved in getting to the photo above. And it helps that the guy standing next to me is 6'3"!! Truly, I'd give anything to be like you and garden in a sundress. You look like you never sweat!

Carol, I am just like you. I look like something the cat dragged around the block a couple of times when I am gardening. I can't wait until I can get out there again. I had to have surgery and 11 hours after that I had a mild heart attack, so my poor garden is being ignored.

I just got a little stick of a piece of the thornless COT last year and because we were replacing the sea wall my plants and trees were all in pots to be replanted as soon as they were done, the thornless COT just got put in the ground a few months ago. It has a small red flower and small leaves, like the dwarf ones. It doesn't want full sun but prefers some shade or dappled light. That is all I can tell you about it now.

lol, Carol I guess we all gardeners have a lot in common!

Kathy, I am wishing for your speedy recovery! I know how much you love gardening, soon you will be ready and enjoy your garden again.

Thanks for the info on the thornless COT variety. After having a very thorny xeriscape garden a few years back, we are careful about spines and thorns especially around our canine children.

Silvia

May I add my 2 cents? I have a snowbird neighbor who have the Crown of Thorns around her little house. I look after her yard while she is away in the summer. Her COT's are in the ground, plain sand with a little mulch for decoration, and only gets rain water, (Melbourne gets a lot June thru August). One day I cut off a stem that was growing over the sidewalk, I took that cutting and found an empty spot in her bed, and shoved it in the ground. Never watered it, just let nature do her thing! That was last year and this year she's growing fine!!

Just my 2 cents!

What a great story! You are right, they are so easy to root from cuttings. For anyone who wants to try, the secret is to let cuttings rest or harden off in shade for a few days before planting. The same thing, I imagine, happened in the dry sand when you stuck the cutting in the ground. If you water in a new cutting, it will usually rot, because it has no roots. Since COTs are succulents, they store enough energy and moisture to form roots before needing any water.

In April, when starting to leaf out:

Later, in June:

Carol

Sommai Tan, you have some lovely flower colors that I don't see locally. From where do you get your COT plants/cuttings? BTW, thanks for posting your pictures.

I have the red and yellow large Thai crown of thorns, and I hate them. I've tried giving them away and nobody wants them. Now I'm going to sell them, since they have gotten larger and are much prettier. I'm totally over plants that hurt me.

juneroses Z9a Cntrl Fl I’m in California. I buy some of it off of eBay with Marie Tran. Sometime I get lucky and buy them at Lowe’s. There’s a lady that sells them locally. I went a little crazy one year collecting many of them.

Thanks for your response Sommai Tan and for the latest pictures. I'm certainly familiar with the name Marie Tran and have seen many pictures of her large collection of not only COT but adenium. How nice to be able to share your enthusiasm with her (but, on the other hand, you enable each other!).

Do these bloom now into summer? The two small flowered varieties I have bloom while the days are short and grow vegetatively while the days are long.

It depends on where you are. When I was in 10a, my yellow one bloomed until fall, then the blooms and leaves started falling off. I used to have a HUGE pinkish/red one that was about 10 years old. I gave it away when I moved, and only took the yellow one.

Are yours in full sun, Joe? Mine didn't bloom until I put them where they got almost full sun. They get sun pretty much from about 10 a.m. to dark.

Yeah they're in the sunniest spots in my yard

Sommai Tan, your plants are beautiful! Thanks for taking the time to post.

Yes, I am familiar with Marie Tran's portfolio, too. Here's a treat for anyone who has never seen her plants:

[Crown of thorns collection[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/crown-of-thorns-collection-dsvw-vd~1791211)

[Crown of Thorns in full bloom[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/crown-of-thorns-in-full-bloom-dsvw-vd~1825405)

Carol in Jacksonville