Male flowers of the Codiaeum variegatum (Croton)

Wow! It looks awesome! My Mammy and Angel Wing Crotons are putting out flowers even in December (my winter).

The male flowers are truly remarkable. This particular Croton is around 30 years old now and when it flowers, it is covered in these blooms.

Sounds spectacular! My oldest croton is 15 years old. Prior to knowing how to really take care of them here, I killed many. They need tons of water here. I used to read that they were very drought tolerant. Not here.

I agree that they are not really drought tolerant when they're young, and in the life of a croton, young can be anything between one and twenty years (in my experience).

Once they get past that 20 year mark, I find them quite drought tolerant although I do give them a deep watering twice during our long dry season. I literally put the sprinkler on near the base of the plant and leave it on overnight.

Wow! That means it takes a very long time to get established. They probably need a very big root system before they can become drought tolerant.

In San Diego they will never be drought tolerant, as we receive so little rain per year here. The annual rainfall is about 10 inches or (25 cm) and most years we only receive 70 to 80 percent of that rainfall. Luckily, the last two rainfall years have been above normal, breaking the mega drought.

Yes they do take a long time to become established at my place. My garden sits on a hillside, on the foothills of this outlying rural suburb, where the soil is quite poor. It's decomposed granite with clay patches, and the long dry seasons don't help much either.

In other areas of north Queensland, eg. in the wet tropics areas, where the soil is much richer and the rain falls fairly regularly throughout the year, they don't take long to become established at all.

It sounds like our soil and dry climate have similarities. Although, in your driest year is still not as dry as here. Also, you’re lucky your wet season is in summer, here it’s in winter (even though the very hot, dry Santa Ana winds happen from late September through April or sometimes into early May). Most people (from colder climates) cannot understand the Santa Ana’s and how it’s starts during late autumn and winter how it can get so hot in winter.

I read in the Los Angeles area crotons are more drought tolerant than in San Diego. It’s because their soil has more clay and is so much better than here.