"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
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The message
from "ste-m" contains these words:

snip

The photo can be found he http://tinyurl.com/q5gjt

Dracaena isn't hardy enough to have survived winters, and yucca
(which is) is rather slowgrowing in the UK.

From the pic, description and speed of growth, I think it's cordyline
australis, aka "cabbage palm". and "Torquay palm". They aren't cabbages
or palms but a lot of them grow in Torquay, and mature trees have the
exotic look of a palm.

Thanks for this, it certainly looks exotic!


If so, starting in a year or so the lower leaves will die and drop off
successively , leaving a bare very fibrous rough textured "trunk" with a
big head of fresh leaves at the top (and huge heads of tiny honey
scented flowers in summer) . They do grow fast in mild areas , I think
the tallest one here is around 40 ft . Higher than that and they tend to
get snapped by gales and start regrowing from the base.

40ft? Blimey! Like having a Leylandi in front of the house! :-S I've just
took some better pictures and it looks as though the lower leaves are
already starting to go brown and die off.


However, you can easily keep them to a more manageable size by just
cutting off the trunk. New, multiple heads will sprout from below, often
making a branched plant with multiple heads. I don't think you're going
to want either shape growing that close to a window, unless the view out
is truly awful :-), and I wouldn't want the roots that close to the
house walls.

The view isn't bad, but look out it's like a scene from Jack and the
Beanstalk! :-)


Moving them is hard work because even young plants quickly send out
enormous root systems. I moved two unwanted 5-footers from a neighbour's
garden to mine last year and it took two of us a good half day. One
died immediately, the other died at the top but the base resprouted this
spring and now has 5 strong new heads growing from the base.

If you just want an easy way out, you could saw it off at ground
level and apply a stump killer.

Janet.(Isle of Arran)

Thanks Janet,

Stephen