I have dozens of them in my garden. My tallest are like trees now. The largest I've seen on our island have 20'ft of trunk and branched crowns. They are hardy down to approx. -8 C. or 17.6 F. They are cheap to buy and they do grow fast. If they freeze to the ground they will resprout. Joe

Thanks Banana Joe,

That means I can keep them out until the temps drop to at least -5C consistently at night.

I guess they don't mind all the rain you get?

If you can, post me a pic or 2 of those big ones out in your area...

Palmettomanz6-Ajax, On

Here's a couple of cordys i took a pic of back in June when i was on Van. Island. 🙂

http://www.palmsnorth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=437

Regards,
Jay

Thanks Jay,

They look really nice...

By the sounds of it...they are semi hardy and an excellent specimen to try in the north/south garden landscape.

I assume the base doesn't have to be mulched out in the lower mainland?

I'm going to push mine as far as I can.

Palmettomanz6-Ajax, On

I'm going to try and incorporate these in my yard nxt spring.

They are about $20

I had a 12 footer until the deep freeze in Jan 04, 13.5 F (-10.3 celcius) on one peculiar night. It froze to the ground but the full effects of the freeze wasn't evident for a month or more. Since then multiple shoots have replaced the original. That's why you don't see massive Cordyline like you do in southern England and Ireland. Like Joe says "hardy to about -8 celcius" so many winters they go unharmed.
As a side note the original flowered and set seed, many of which I have potted up ready to go to good homes.

Cheers, Barrie in Lantzville.

How does your Cordyline look now? I bet it looks awesome with multitrunks. There was a huge one in town rigt in front of the sewing store. They cut it down in June because they said it was getting to big. The trunk diameter at the base was 6"inches or so. It has more than a dozen shoots that have sprouted off the stump and they must be over 2'ft in height now. I wish they would have left it alone. I was going to take some pics. of it, but they took the saw to it before I could get some. Joe

Thanks boys...for me that means growing them potted for now...then I'll try planting a few close to the foundation of my house, in a raised bed...anything's worth a try...

Palmettomanz6-Ajax, On

Palmettomanz6-Ajax, On
I read somewhere about an enthusiast in Ontario growing these outside, and either building an enclosure or some other winter protection method. They appeared to be quite sizeable for the climate.

Joe,
The original Cordyline froze to the ground nearly 3 years ago. Since then it's grown to nearly shoulder height with about 6 - 8 new shoots. Shame about the Large one in Ganges being cut down.
Here's a pic I just took of the new shoots.

Cheers, Barrie (Lantzville)

Barrie,

Nice pics....its amazing how it grew back....anything's worth a try as long as I keep the constant cold/windchills off the tree (protection)...and of course select a proper site.

Palmettomanz6-Ajax, On

Barrie,

I meant to ask you if you remember that article and where I can locate it?

Palmettomanz6-Ajax, On

Right on Barrie. They are an amazing plant. Very drought tolerant too! Joe

Like Barrie, Mine set seed in the summer of 2003 but froze to the ground in -9C temps in Jan 2004. I also have multi trunks and they are now about 6' tall each of them. Cordies grow quickly. If we have a mild winter again I am sure it will flower again this summer.
The flowers smell great.

PALMETTOMAN, sorry man I don't recall for certain but I believe it was on GardenWeb if memory serves me. I haven't visited that site in quite some time, but it's likely in the Palms and Cycads forum from GardenWeb.

Cheers, Barrie in Lantzville

P.S. No wind at all here in Lantzville during todays storm that lashed the mainland, Victoria and parts of the southern Gulf Islands. Not even a lick of wind.

Barry, It was a nice sunny day so I decided to take along my camera and snap some pics. I e-mailed you a wack of them. Check out the Cordylines, they were planted in 1991. The Yuccas in that garden are just coming into bloom. They have a nice big clump of Yucca gloriosa 'Superba'. We toatlly esacped any winds up here on the north end of SSI. I did hear on the news that the Southern Gulf Islands got nailed, but it wasn't SSI. I'm thinking it was the outer Gulf Island facing the Strait of Georgia side. East side of Mayne, Galiano and Saturna got hammered I believe. I was told they even cancelled the ferries in the morning from Tsawassen. The highest wind speed I recorded here was only 5.6 mph. Cheers, Joe