"Jim xzy" wrote

Hi all,

I have this yucca-like plant in my garden:

http://www.aalife.com/!yucca3.jpg

It is about 1.5 mtrs tall. Can anyone identify it for me? Is it, in fact a
yucca, or is it something else?

I'd also like to know why the leaf-ends are becoming dead and shredded, as
seen in the small photo underneath (sorry it is so blurred). Would that be
due to winds, or due to over-watering (or even under-watering)?


As others have said, it's Cordyline australis or commonly Cabbage palm or
Cornish Palm (it isn't technically a palm). Yours looks healthy although it
has suffered a little winter damage. I notice it's in a pot, much better
planted in the garden where it will become a proper tree and look much nicer
(Sacha would disagree), they will need sun in this country. In the garden
the roots will go straight down and even if a severe frost kills the top
growth it will eventually come back from the roots.
There is a rot going around ATM that gets into damaged wood and rots the
tree from the inside, it would smell bad if that was the case and you would
need to cut it back to sound wood.
Of our two large trees we had one cut down completely last year, for some
reason it started to lean, and the other, originally an offshoot from the
first, was damaged by last winter but is shooting well from it's trunk so
should eventually look better than ever.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK