Gardening centres rant.

The worst culprit for 'unreality' has to be the Chelsea Flower Show Oups..crossed posts, @pete

 

You need to consider your local climate and learn about the various microclimates in your garden, where gets the most sun, where does the cold wind always blow, where the ground gets really wet or dry all of these affect what you can grow where.
if you are buying anything other than annuals do some research on what you might like and where it comes from, see if it matches conditions somewhere in your garden.
My garden in "mild" South Devon is actually quite cold for the area being exposed to easterly winds from the sea as well as on a hill side. I have a Callistemon in the open garden (one of the hardier species). I cannot grow things that like high humidity, so some of the large leaved hydrangeas etc are non starters. I have put a raised bed in a sunny spot so I can grow bulbs and other plants that don't like winter damp and can cope with summer dry conditions.
I also have a want list in the back of my mind and will try things a couple of times to give it a fair chance to establish. Once established and mature many plants are hardier than you might think; they might lose the top growth, but comeback from the trunk or belo9w ground. Many Cordylines clobbered by this winter will resprout from the base over the next6 months or so.

 

But it makes a lot of money.

 

Or.....be prepared to prepare the soil properly and to protect the plant when necessary! This is where a collection of large, white plastic buckets comes in handy As an aside, following my recent purchase of several sturdy, 'pop-up' rubbish bags to use as frost protection, two weeks later I found exactly the sort of thing I'd been imagining but couldn't find anywhere. At €36 euros a time, though, you'd need deep pockets!

 

Bow saw. Cordyline stems are very soft.
Its pretty incredible what you can get through with an old fashioned bow saw but everyone, these days, seems to think any thing above 2ins in diameter needs a chainsaw.

 

pruning saw would do it, the stems cut very easily with a saw as they never seem to go woody, just a bundle of fibres and pulp.

 

Um...that looks more like a Phormium?

 

When the frosts have finished it would be worth tugging out the definitely dead remains of leaf from the phormium, so it doesn't rot, but it doesn't look dead

 

I thought he knew it was a Phormium, as they look a bit like that around here.
Wouldn't try cutting a Phormium back with a saw.

 

Definitely a sharp secateur job and a pruning saw for the roots