Thanks, Dave.

I think I'm best to leave it then.

In fact, I'm now looking forward to watching it grow! :-D

Thanks again

Jay

"Dave Poole" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 24 May 2004 06:28:47 +0000 (UTC), "Jay" wrote:

It may sound a daft question, but is there any way to stop it branching?

At the moments it's just about a safe distance from the house, but I'm
worried that if it branches out, it may go towards the house. The person
who planted it (ie the former houseowner) pplanted at a little too close
I
think...

If it does branch it will pose absolutely no problem at all. We have
thousands of them planted down here - many barely inches away from
house and hotel walls. All are perfectly fine and pose no risks
whatsoever. Cordyline australis is a 'terminal flowerer' - in other
words, growth terminates in a flower spike. After flowering, new
shoots at the base of the spike develop, taking anything from 1 to 4
years to grow big enough to flower. If your plant produces a flower
spike it will branch out. Of course you could select just one shoot
and remove the others, but this will result in a very lop-sided and
rather ugly specimen.

Cordyline australis is at its very best when branching freely,
producing many large spikes of rather sweetly scented flowers. They
can become rather spectacular - not only when in flower, but later
when heavily laden with white or lilac, pea-like berries. Generally
(but not always) birds will only touch the berries when most others
have been eaten. Here, Jackdaws eventually feast on them, but not
until late November. As a result we get flowering (creamy white
through to pinkish white depending upon the plant) in May lasting a
couple of weeks, followed by berrying which starts to look good by mid
August and remains highly ornamental until early winter.

I really do urge you to simply let your plant 'do its own thing'. It
wont' pose any risks to people or structures and will get better year
on year. If you follow this lengthy link, it shows a parterre of
Cordylines down on the sea front that were planted a while back and
are now starting to look rather fetching


http://groups.msn.com/Torbay-theEngl...hoto&PhotoID=5


Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November
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