The difference 6 months makes to a Cordyline (cabbage palm)

[mouse]

The difference 6 months makes to a Cordyline Australis Cabbage Palm
End of last summer 2010

and now Jan 2010






The ends went all mushy
and the remaining leaves don't look like there gonna last too much longer

[Dave Brown]

many seem to be much worse that that, Mouse.

My 20 foota is shedding loads of green leaves and I notice a couple of heads are completely dead like your's. My wife is getting very irritated about the mess the leaves cause as it sheds 2,000 + dead leaves in an year, and now shedding green ones as well.

[Mr List]

i'd be beyond devastated if something like that happened to me.

i liked the look of a cordy before but there is no way i am risking starting one now.

[Yorkshire Kris]

I've got some cordyline australis seeds to sow this spring. Hopefully severe winters are now behind us for at least a decade or two

[Dave Brown]

i'd be beyond devastated if something like that happened to me.

i liked the look of a cordy before but there is no way i am risking starting one now.

Some of the best looking Cordyline around have been cut to the ground in the past. They resprout with multiple trunks, giving a coconut grove appearance.

[redsquirrel]

because of the established roots,they grow like cordi rockets too

[MonkeyDavid]

i liked the look of a cordy before but there is no way i am risking starting one now.

Every Cordy I've seen round here is trashed but until then they had been growing for 20+ years without trouble. I won't be giving up on these just yet. Imagine if it was another 20 years before another Cordy killing winter-you'd have many years of enjoyment looking at a fine architectural plant

[Mr List]

i'm giving the space that was to be for a cordy to a Trachycarpus.
i think that's for the best.

if the winters warm up though i might squeeze one in somewhere

[mouse]

i'd be beyond devastated if something like that happened to me.

i liked the look of a cordy before but there is no way i am risking starting one now.

don't let the pics put you off mate the plants are well worth a go and if you get a young un you ain't gonna pay a lot for it .
Dave i know what you mean about the leafs my neighbour ain't too happy with me lol half the leaves ended up in her garden

[mouse]

I've got some cordyline australis seeds to sow this spring. Hopefully severe winters are now behind us for at least a decade or two

i hope so mate my cordyline australis is 14 years old and stood through all the previous winters

[Mo]

My 14 year old cordyline looks totally trashed! Loads of dead leaves everywhere ( not a single green leaf left on it), but I won't give up on it just yet. I can't believe that the roots aren't still alive!!!!!

[Dave Brown]

I was being driven yesterday rather than driving so took the opportunity to do a bit of Cordy collating. All but one of the C purpurea/rubra in a mile or so of me have had the youngest leaves fried but the crowns look reasonable, but one about 300 yards from me looks trashed though, There is a slight hollow at the bottom of the hill and it looks like the cold pools there. They are always the first place to get ice on windscreens. Just shows how much topography plays in hardiness.

My big Cordy australis seems to be the worst affected around here, but it is by a long way the tallest.

In Gravesend Town centre it looks like it must have been a couple of degrees warmer and all Cordys, including Torbay Dazzler loook un touched. Even the roundabouts down near the Thames they look fine.

Here is at least it was marginal for Cordys

[DiCasS]

I seen a Cordy today undamaged and in perfect health. The only one round here that I've noticed. It stood about 7 ft tall with leaves and the whole of the trunk was smothered in ivy. It was quite close to the house and in a built up area, so would imagine it was a few degrees warmer than here.

I'm amazed the difference it makes temperaturewise in a built up area, I now ride my bike to work and riding through the cycle path has felt bitterly cold this past couple of days, but as soon as I reach where there's plenty of building, the temperature definitely has been less severe by a good few degrees.

Di

[Mr List]

i wonder if there would be any climbing plants you could use like a living fleece?

hard to think of one that could protect the crowns, not look crappe or damage the cordy though.

[huporhaha]

I'm convinced that provenance has something to do with hardiness. The run of the mill cordies that I have bought have suffered badly but we have a local nursery (Garden Cottage Nursery - Poolewe) where I have bought reliable cordies. They have sailed through this winter whilst all my common ones have succumbed. I have a teeny weeny incie wincy one that looks fine - about 10 inches tall without blemish whilst others have gone mushy. I even have a Green Goddess that looks okay from there but my common ones from elsewhere have failed miserably. Its a learning curve I think - evidently all the ones at Plockton have died but most of the Inverewe ones are struggling through. We'll get there eventually!!!!!!!!