On Sun, 17 Nov 2002 00:05:20 -0000, "Chris Stewart"
wrote:

Hi all - some advice please. I have a purple cordyline outside in a raised
bed - it's open to weather from the north. It's in a circular raised bed. I
live in Aberdeen. Could I get away with a fleece screen held up with bamboo,
wrapping round the raised bed, or should I wrap the plant. I'm worried that
the wet / cold will get it, but it looked so attractive in the spring, I
thought I'd cross this bridge etc etc.

I have a feather palm (butia) which, while it is still young, I have
to protect over the winter. I didn't the first winter (E. Anglia) and,
though it didn't die, it certainly looked the worse for wear in the
Spring.

My solution has been to acquire some of that stiff plastic coated
(1") wire mesh, and line one side of it with bubble wrap. I do this
with thin wire which goes round and round, periodically jabbed through
both bubble wrap and mesh at intervals necessary to keep wrap and mesh
close together. I then making a circular tube by wiring two edges
together (with an inch or two of overlap). The bubble wrap for
aesthetic (and other) reasons I have on the inside of the "tube".

The cage doesn't have to be too huge as I can stroke the fronds of
the palm up and tie them loosely with elasticated cord. I peg the cage
down with tent pegs and, for good measure against the wind, ram two
(last year four) longish stakes closely around the outside of the tube
and then wire the tube against these stakes (another reason to have
the bubble wrap on the inside of the tube).

I don't know if it's really necessary and in fact I haven't done it
this year, but I last year I got two lengths of thicker rigid wire,
made a star shape out of them and then attached the four ends of the
star to the top edge of the cage to ensure that the radii of the star
were sufficiently long to necessitate a dome shape. I then simply
draped another sheet of bubble wrap over the top (of the dome) and
wired the bottom edge of this to the cage. The dome means that snow
will fall off rather than fill the cage. You would be surprised at how
tough bubble wrap is. No, it doesn't tear even when only anchored by
thin wire.

The wind chill is most certainly negated and the crown kept dry. It
sounds like a lot of work but it's only once. Your cage is re-usable
year after year until the plant is high enough to escape the freezing
ground level of air.

I know some people when using such cages also fill them with Autumn
leaves. The plants don't need light in the winter and will still be
redolent with chlorophyll when the Spring sunshine comes.

How big is the Cordyline?

Respect

Hussein