Update: a couple of months after the above and following some seriously windy weather, Old Spikey is looking pretty sorry for himself. Does he have a future, and if so, is there anything I can do to enhance his prospects of survival?
I’ve never grown a cordyline to anything like that height … but in the absence so far of anyone who has, here’s my tuppenceworth.
It’s not looking very happy … I would cut it down to a couple of feet from the base and hope for new shoots in the spring … I don’t think there’s anything to lose by doing that … you could wait until after Christmas and stick a fairy on the top for the Twelve Days of … etc. otherwise cut it down so you don’t have to look at the pitiful thing.
🤞
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I’ve never grown a cordyline to anything like that height … but in the absence so far of anyone who has, here’s my tuppenceworth.
It’s not looking very happy … I would cut it down to a couple of feet from the base and hope for new shoots in the spring … I don’t think there’s anything to lose by doing that … you could wait until after Christmas and stick a fairy on the top for the Twelve Days of … etc. otherwise cut it down so you don’t have to look at the pitiful thing.
🤞
Thanks, Dove. I was thinking along similar lines myself, but having been a "trial and error" gardener who tended to leave a trail of butchered plants in his wake, I thought it best to wait and see whether anyone else concurred. Oh, and I'd prefer "pitiable" to "pitiful", but I get the drift.
McRazz, re the removed leaves, most of them actually blew off during recent windy weather and the others that I did remove were almost literally hanging on by a thread. Would the plant's health have been served by leaving them in situ?
It's clearly not dead yet so maybe wait until spring and see how it copes with the coming winter. Another hard one might finish off what's left of the top growth, and if it does, that will be the time to cut it down and hopefully get new shoots from lower down or from ground level. It would then be multi-stemmed rather than the single-stem "false palm" shape.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
It's clearly not dead yet so maybe wait until spring and see how it copes with the coming winter. Another hard one might finish off what's left of the top growth, and if it does, that will be the time to cut it down and hopefully get new shoots from lower down or from ground level. It would then be multi-stemmed rather than the single-stem "false palm" shape.
Thanks for your response, Jenny. I now have a couple of options to go forward with, and that's all that poor old Spikey and I can ask for.
McRazz, re the removed leaves, most of them actually blew off during recent windy weather and the others that I did remove were almost literally hanging on by a thread. Would the plant's health have been served by leaving them in situ?
Almost certainly yes. The plant will drop the leaves when ready. Cordylines are half hardy so any additional protection that can be given, whether this is location, adjacent plants or insulating old growth, should be encouraged.
Also, and this is totally subjective, but they look more natural and much better in their natural state (i.e. untrimmed)
McRazz, re the removed leaves, most of them actually blew off during recent windy weather and the others that I did remove were almost literally hanging on by a thread. Would the plant's health have been served by leaving them in situ?
Almost certainly yes. The plant will drop the leaves when ready. Cordylines are half hardy so any additional protection that can be given, whether this is location, adjacent plants or insulating old growth, should be encouraged.
Also, and this is totally subjective, but they look more natural and much better in their natural state (i.e. untrimmed)
Thanks very much for that. I agree that plants untrimmed can look attractive, but as you say, its a completely subjective affair.
I have both a green cordyline (in the front garden) and a red cordyline (in the back). The green one has grown up into a branching tree and I regularly pull off the lower leaves. The red one was cut down by frosts a few years ago, but grew again, before being cut down by frosts again last winter. However, it has grown again from the base. So I always seem to have some kind of shrubby red cordyline in my back garden.
My advice would be to cut yours right back and you should see new growth in the spring. Probably more than one shoot - I have several on mine.
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Just a yes or no would do, folks. Preferably backed up by an informed, or even expert perspective, but I'm not fussy.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
McRazz, re the removed leaves, most of them actually blew off during recent windy weather and the others that I did remove were almost literally hanging on by a thread. Would the plant's health have been served by leaving them in situ?
Also, and this is totally subjective, but they look more natural and much better in their natural state (i.e. untrimmed)
My advice would be to cut yours right back and you should see new growth in the spring. Probably more than one shoot - I have several on mine.