Hardy Tropicals UK

hey everyone, this year i bought a small cordyline austarlis, however i have heard that they are unreliable when it comes to hardiness so from anyones experience how hardy would you say they are? Im keeping mine in my conservatory this year with protection so it should be fine. But all the biggest ones in the area was cut to the ground by the 2010 winter.

-10c seems to kill the growth point lower and or prolonged cold kills them to the ground.

Small Cordylines will need protection below around -3C to be on the safe side.

Trunked Cordyline australis are limited by the sap layer being just below the bark. If the sap layer freezes all the way round (not the trunk all the way through) the trunk dies. This is what happened to my big one in 2010 Therefore Cordyline australis trunks can take -9C for short periods, but could be killed by a several day freeze of less. Exposure to freezing wind will speed up a trunk killing freeze, however it is likely that even if the top is killed, it will resprout multiple trunks from below ground.

I had some 15 year old plants that I grew from being in 9cm pots to 12 ft trunked plants. I never protected them and they always grew outside. 2010 winter killed my cordylines, people are still worried about leaving them unprotected. People don't know what they have until they have gone, loads of gardens are missing there Cordylines and I would always protect them now.

fern Rob wrote:2010 winter killed my cordylines, people are still worried about leaving them unprotected. People don't know what they have until they have gone, loads of gardens are missing there Cordylines and I would always protect them now.

How would you contemplate protecting a 20ft tall 30 head Cordyline ? My ladder wouldn't reach the top, and when up in the tree it swayed about a lot, as is not wood.

Pic from 2009

No idea. You would need scaffolding for that and plenty of fleece.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Yes dave i posted on your latest youtube video my realisation that your cordyline was missing. Now that would be quite a job protecting that wonderful specimen.

I wrapped the tops of mine last winter but the -10c still killed the growth points. I just wish we could go back to winters where we struggled to get down to -5c.

Yes unfortunately i have not been growing plants back when we had milder winters so i can only dream what it was like

-8C killed all my Cordylines down to ground level. I think the main problem was 2 weeks below freezing. I even managed to kill a waggie that year.

Sounds like it was a bad winter for you then. Im not too disheartened by the information I've been given, after all most the large cordylines in the area have rebounded after being cut to the ground.