Moose, thanks for the compliment. Do you have a dog? Sam is 11 yrs 5 months old. 92 in human years. He's slowing down a lot, but every so often starts acting like a pup. Wonder if it's the same as elderly humans who they say are enacting a second childhood??? lol. Crotons aren't fast or slow-growing. Speed depends on your definition. Crotons grow faster than most Cactus, and slower than a weed. lol. Speed depends on light and other factors. Although I adore Crotons, I have other sun-loving plants before the windows. So my poor Croton is getting medium light. A strange tale. In front, 'inside the house,' are two, big south and west windows. I placed my Croton before these two sunny panes, (years ago)..Every year they'd end up getting Spider Mites. Once they were set in lower light, mites kicked the bucket. Out of curiosity, I placed my Croton in the same two windows, sure enough: Mites. There's something weird about those windows, although other high-light plants do well. Roses..I once bought a Rose 'in a bag' from Aldi's. The rose said upright, flowers were supposed to be multi-colored. The price was right, something like 1.99 per bag. So, I planted this rose in a semi-shady spot. (90's) Well, for one, the rose turned out to be a trailer, and flowers are red. lol. I took this pic the other day...flowers are fading, but still noticeable. Plus, it gets less than an hours sun. Do you have a taller plant/s to block any strong rays to start? Toni I'm assuming the air in that part of the room is too dry, which brought on the mites..

I've read a lot about the rarity of blooms with the Croton Plant. Mine has been re-potted once and stands in a west facing window with bright sunlight 12 months a year. Blooms such as pictured occur often but I've never seen one this long before.

"full sun" and all day FLORIDA sun are not necessarily the same thing. I find that things that require "full sun," in other places, do great with half day of Florida sun. It takes a pretty hardy sun lover to do full all day August Florida sun. With that said, I have a petra croton that gets lots of sun. Just some shade in the late afternoon, and I've had no problems like you have described. Perhaps it is too wet. Mine is in mostly sand. I amended a bit with garden soil when I planted.

It seems small to me as well for a 2 yr. old plant. That pot may be too big, I doubt the rootball is big enough to merit a pot that large. I think I'd amend that soil w/ at least 1/3 perlite to make that faster draining, as that mix looks fine in texture (may be too water retentive). I would have left it in plastic pot so moisture isn't absorbed by the terra cotta pot. These are very thirsty plants, I had to water mine quite frequently, large amounts too. It got large & I cut it back, several times. Couldn't keep up w/ its watering needs, so I gave it away. I also used a pebble tray (aka humidity tray) under mine: a saucer filled w/ pebbles, one waters go overflow so the pot sits ON TOP OF the pebbles in water, but not in the water. It helps the plant absorb moisture as needed, while still letting the soil breathe. Not understanding Gudang's comment amount 'burn' for it to be colorful. Simply put, bright sun will color this plant up, insufficient light causes it to revert to green. If increasing its exposure to more light &/or strong sun, pls. do it gradually so it doesn't burn.