Blooming Variegated Croton

A few weeks ago when we walked around the Brookside Gardens conservatory, the variegated crotons had the beginnings for flowers. The collage beginning this post shows the buds on the long stalk. They are closely spaced when they first form and then the stalk elongates beginning at the base to give the buds room to grow larger.

Last week the variegated crotons were in bloom as shown in the two images below. The buds closest to the plant open first.

I took several of images with the 8x magnification loupe. The plant is so colorful that the flowers don’t have to be!