Fantastic! Nice pics too.

Yep, that's the exciting Croton flower.

Jeff, your bloom is typical for crotons, so the first one you spoke of might have been abnormal. Your plant is definitely leggy, you sound like you know how to propagate a tip cutting so that's a good idea. If you cut the old cane down to within 4 inches of the soil, it will produce several new growths and will be a beautiful, full plant. At that time you might consider unpoting, teasing some or all of the "terrible soil" from the roots and repot into a better mix.

Russ

Russ, thanks. It's a very rough old plant. I don't think the old one had enough light for the flowers to really open up. Not very impressive as flowers go, but nice to see. I've vowed to take much better care of my plants, and plan on doing what you described.

The last time I cut off the top of a Croton the old cane just kept growing another single trunk from there. I wonder if I did it at the wrong time of year or if it didn't have enough light for energy. It was too long ago to remember. Any thoughts on that?

I should have mentioned that it's possible to get seeds on the bloom stalk if flowers get pollinated. In nature the pollinators are ants, so it's unlikely that's occurred given your in zone 5 and coming out of winter. But maybe later if you summer this plant outside. I often find seedlings on the ground around my croton collection where seeds have fallen, I pot and grow them on. Pretty exciting when some show leaf shapes and colors that are different trim any of my other varieties.

Russ

Oh, seeds would be fantastic. Can they be pollinated by hand?

Give it a try. What have you got to lose?

I've never hand pollinated, although I've read a lot about doing that with Haworthias. I'm not sure if I know the anatomy. Maybe I need 'the talk'. I'm assuming with what Russ wrote that I can do that with only one plant?

Jeff, self-pollinating can be done but I haven't paid much attention to the 'intimate' details. You might try two things when flowers are open. Tap the branch near the flower stalk with a pencil or something similar to create vibrations that potentially loosen and spread pollen to appropriate flower parts. Also, get a soft artists brush and dab lightly from flower to flower.

Seeds produced, whether naturally or artificially, on a single plant are called 'selfed' and only genes within that particular plant are involved. If flowers from two unrelated plants are involved, the gene pool is larger and more varied and far more likely to produce offspring with characteristics different from either parent. But selfing is better than no seeds at all, and you never know what you'll get.

If you put plants outside for the summer, you should get a croton of another variety, grow them close together, and hope they flower at the same time. Don't wait for the ants, try the procedure with the brush between flowers on both plants. This is your best chance to get offspring that are really different from parents.

That said, all cultivated crotons are hybrids, so they have a soup bowl full of genes compared to species plants, so even single 'selfed' plants can produce a variety of characteristics.

Seed pods will be small, round, and green, turning very dark brown or black and larger with maturity. Pods will eventually split open in several places and seeds will be lost if you don't catch them somehow. Seeds are black, angular and less than an eighth inch around. Try wrapping the stalk with pods in a section of nylon stocking or something similar. I should do this, but instead just look for seedlings on the ground.

Your croton is one of two vintage varieties, either Petra or Norma. They're nearly identical and easily the most-produced varieties in the world. Maybe there was a label on the pot when you bought it indicating which one.

If you try this, keep us posted on how it goes.

If you need different varieties, I can offer propagations from my collection of mostly vintage crotons, if you'll just pay the postage. Obviously though, plants would be some years away from flowering size.

Russ

Thanks for taking the time to explain the intimate details Russ. I know that isn't easy. I'll give it a try. If I wasn't concentrating on cactus and succulents, I'd take you up on your generous offer right away. If anything happens to mine, I'd love to obtain a couple more and will let you know.