[Sorry for the excessive quoting. Can't find a way to delete previous post.]

Thanks for everyone's useful advice. I have a question about what is meant by "trunk" though. We have a 10 foot tall Cordyline australis which, like everyone else's, has lost all its leaves over the cold winter. The trunk goes straight-up for 4 feet before branching into 3 branches, which each branch once or twice before ending in the (now leafless) heads 10 feet up (photo attached). Oh, and the damage at the base of the trunk is due to cat's sharpening their claws on it, which doesn't seem to have done it any harm over the past 2.5 year. Should I:

1) Cut the ends off just below the heads (going down as far as necessary to remove any rotten plant); or

2) Cut just below the first branching, so we're left with a 4 foot high stump.

I've read here and elsewhere new shoots will come from the "trunk", although I don't know if this includes the very substantial first branches.

Cheers,
Alastair