Nice crotons! I got some, too, here in coastal L.A. And you're absolutely correct, the key is to keep the rains from soaking them during our winter months, that'll kill them real fast. Mine are in the ground, under large eaves so the rain doesn't get to them and they were fine this past winter. They are in part sun, so far so good.

Oh,I wish I had a spot like that. These are such great plants if you want a tropical look. Funny thing is..they grow fine all summer in our moderately warm midbay summers of 70's.

Congrats!

Hey Stan, here are my crotons. Took this picture this morning. They are getting really full. I water them every 4 days and they get about 4 hours of morning sun. They have been in the ground for a year and a half.

Looking great Charlie. Mine? Not so good as I bought in April and what followed was all that cold rains and temps. The two were straight out of a greenhouse in Florida probably. But,no wood die back and every node has buds bursting. One thing I have noticed- maybe you too- is that they are MORE colorful under our sun..yellow and orange get fiery.

I have heard that the hardiest type are : Stoplight ( hard to find and expensive online for very small plants) Mrs Iceton ( seen it once before I learned they were hardy) and those fiddle leafed types for some reason. Mammy can take Cal low temps..just not with rains.

One other..they dont want hot sun as I thought. They do do best where they get full sun a few hours or filtered sun all day. Just not hot beating down on them all day sun.

People have to move them around a bit to find that right spot.