December 2010 went down on record as the coldest for over 100 years. Not good news for some of our favourite garden plants. Here at our nursery in North London, UK we suffered some damage on our Cordyline Australis. Most of the damage seems to be at the very top of the stem where the leaves have either browned off or completely collapsed.
Cordylines for sale at Paramount Plants
What to do if your Cordyline leaves have browned off on the outside but crown is still ok:
These can be left until the late Spring / early Summer months and new stems should start appearing from the inside of the plant. A good feed with all purpose granular or liquid feed between May and September should assist – see below.
What do you do if your Cordyline crown has completely collapsed – I can tell you what I’m going to do:
If you were to look close you would find that the stem of the plant is soft at the top. Firstly, at the moment I will do nothing. When the weather begins to warm up in March, probably towards the end of that month I will remove all of the dead leaves by cutting them away. This will leave a clear stem and crown. When all the leaves are cleared the best thing to do is grab the trunk and feel your way down the trunk until it feels very hard and woody – then cut the top of the Cordyline off. Over the summer it will reshoot along the stem and from the base again. These shoots will develop into full woody stems again. You’ll probably end up with a multi-stem specimen in time.
On most Cordylines the top 3 cm or so would have been damaged but this varies on how old and tall the woody stem is. Once you have cut off the top of the Cordyline paint the cut with Arbrex which is available in most garden centres with a decent garden shop.
In younger Cordylines where they have not developed a clear woody stem things might be trickier. Follow the tips above ie clear the brown leaves, cut off any soft rotten trunk but wait to do this until early summer because if it has been killed off completely by the cold it might reshoot from the base.
Feeding Cordylines
Finally, when the growing season truly gets under way for Cordylines, around May, then either give a top dressing of organic fertilizer or slow release fertilizer granules. I also like to supplement this by giving the cordylines a regular light liquid feed every week through June and July when they’re really motoring away
Hope this helps!
Lucas Mariconda
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Thanks for that, I really hope this works as I have several large specimens in my garden and am gutted to see them in this sorry state, I really thought this was the end for them!
Ah, just moved into a newly rented house in cornwall with a fairly sorry looking Cornish Palm in the front. I presume this is a cordyline of some sort? We have removed the tops, but not painted, so maybe I will have to take a look for some of the Arbrex you recommended. Txs.
I have owned this mature cordylines since moving in two months ago. It was in a very poor condition affected by frost. I followed your advice – it is now sprouting from the base in six places – very good. The tree has four mature trunks. What should be my next action? It is a revered tree in the area; the neighbours will blame me tf it fails to repeat the show pf previous years.
After watching our yuccas slowly die i was very thankful to find there may be hope for them after all. Many thanks!
Thanks for all the information on the cordyline. Our two yr old australis keeps growing after it was wrapped up all winter, but as soon as the leaves/frongs appear they turn brown and wilt. The top centre is still soft and green. Can you please elaborate on the ‘light liquid feed’. Is it worth trying to get extra moisture to the roots because the organic compost doesn’t seem to be doing anything? Should we build the compost ‘up’ around the bottom of the trunk? the tree is in a south westerley positon and clay below three feet of top soil.
Our two trees are very old, after the winter one seems far worse than the other.
One has mostly brown leaves and only one head of flowers, it’s bark is paler than the other with more of what look like holes in it.
But on the lower part of the trunk has sprouted in 6 places.
Will the tree survive ?