Bad Winter for Cordylines

Where I live in south Derbyshire this winter has been a bad one for Cordylines, I haven't seen a single one that has been undamaged after the big freeze before Christmas.

Round here a lot of gardens have them, from young plants to very tall mature specimens (15-20ft); unfortunately most look like they have been killed or severely damaged, all the growth has been destroyed by the cold leaving just stumps. Many people have been cuttinng them down, others just cutting all the dead leaves off in the hope that they re-shoot. Does anyone have experience of this and will they re-shoot, don't have one myself, just curious, as our neighbour has just cut a 15ft one down thinking it's had it.

To think some of the mature specimens must have seen decades of winters and survived and this one looks like it could have wiped them all out....pretty sad really.

 

It`s the same everywhere Bilbo, they have been decimated here in south east Wales. It`s quite possible that your neighbours plant could reshoot from the base. :thumb:

 

Starting from scratch here too....Bought two for eight quid today and at that price I'm prepared to give 'em another chance,at least I can give them shelter in doors for a few years at least.

 

Firstly I'd like to say that although we had a good dollop of snow before Christmas I dont think my part of the country experienced such low temperatures as some.
In fact I dont think we got lower than minus 6C and then only on a couple of nights.It did however stay below freezing on a few occasions all day.

Two of mine which were 25yrs plus in age have lost their top growth.
But I'm convinced they were not killed in December last, but probably the winter before, as they put out very small shoots at the tops of the stems just below the head last summer, while the head flowered like crazy, but unusually made no new growth last summer.

I think the death of many is probably a combination of three cold winters rather than just one, especially where large established plants are concerned.

Having said that I have at least one large plant that appears to be only slightly damaged.

 

We had a rather nice red one - not as hardy as the green, and we lost the top and main stem in winter 2009-2010. It did however put up shoots from the base so this winter I covered the shoots with fleece and it seems to have survived. Though it has to be said that although we had prolonged snow and frosts the temperature didn't fall quite as far this winter. Our neighbours had a very tall green one that survived 2009-2010, though most in our area didn't, but it has completely flopped at the top this winter.

 

Very few here have been damaged but across the 'border' in Somerset most are badly damaged or the tops completely gone.

 

I have lost yet another Torbay Dazzler ! I am going to cut it right back and see what happens . I think the green cordylines are reputed to be the hardiest , but my neighbour lost two fine specimens he had stored in the greenhouse . B and Q will make millions again this spring as people replace them !
I also lost a very nice mature Phormium Tricolour , which are reputedly quite hardy. I will divide it and repot it next month and see how it goes. Now dividing phormiums is hard work , they are as tough as old boots .

 

No problems here. Virtually no snow and temperatures dropped to -8 on a couple of occassions. The fact we are surrounded by sea makes a great difference.

 

This one has gone from this.


To this,



But this one appear OK for now,

 

Even us softy,shandy southerners r suffering for the prolonged cold spells. I'm in southern Cornwall .There r five big old beauties in the garden that I care for and they r looking sick as, and I'm not sure they're gonna revive. Perversely all the younguns r ok but I think its the cold winds that do for them . I live about 400' higher than the garden I look after and I have a tall cordyline australis that is nestled in the corner of a hawthorn hedge and he's faired much better than the more exposed ones nearer sea level.
Re phormium splitting - Two garden forks , back to back , push the tines of both forks into the phormium clump from top side , tines together ,then push the fork handles together prising the tines , and therefor the phormium root ball, apart.

 

Hello WozWoz
I had a hell of a job splitting my Phormium last year - now it was a tad pot bound .... but I had to take a bow saw and a full size axe to the devil ! It was more like a wrestling match than gardening.
A pot bound phormium tricolor , that has suffered badly in the winter , needs splitting in the next couple of weeks. Is it best to remove all the leaves to ground level when splitting them?

 

Hi

I have seen hundreds across Lancashire with their leaves dropping. I spoke to an ex manager in charge of Blackpool parks who told me the last time it happened was in the 70's. He said they cut a lot of them back level with the ground and that many of them grew back and are now thriving specimens. I'm hoping this will be the case with mine!

David