Is my cordyline tree dead ?
 

after severe frosts at christmas my cordyline has been shedding leaves everyday for the last few weeks...its getting very bare looking now ? will it come back again or is it a goner !!! its been growing for 15 years so far....

Is my cordyline tree dead ?
 

In article ,
Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:
On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:16:54 +0000, harvey1964
wrote:

after severe frosts at christmas my cordyline has been shedding leaves
everyday for the last few weeks...its getting very bare looking now ?
will it come back again or is it a goner !!! its been growing for 15
years so far....

My Cordyline lost all it's leaves last winter. I was assured by
"experts" that it would recover. I'm still waiting.

What a lot of people miss is that New Zealand lies a LOT closer to
the equator than the UK does, and doesn't have our miserable winters
even its far south, though they have comparable winter temperatures
to the south of England. The north of New Zealand is a LOT warmer,
of course.

I don't know how good those are at recovering from frost, per se,
but what often sees such plants off in the UK is the rot that so
often follows frost damage. I have lost ALL of my thyme this year,
though it is very hardy against frost as such. Plants like bay,
that will regrow from deep roots, are very different.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Is my cordyline tree dead ?
 

On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:16:54 +0000, harvey1964
wrote:


after severe frosts at christmas my cordyline has been shedding leaves
everyday for the last few weeks...its getting very bare looking now ?
will it come back again or is it a goner !!! its been growing for 15
years so far....

My Cordyline lost all it's leaves last winter. I was assured by
"experts" that it would recover. I'm still waiting.

Steve

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Is my cordyline tree dead ?
 

On 20/02/2011 22:01, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:16:54 +0000, harvey1964
wrote:


after severe frosts at christmas my cordyline has been shedding leaves
everyday for the last few weeks...its getting very bare looking now ?
will it come back again or is it a goner !!! its been growing for 15
years so far....

There was an almost identical question here towards the end of
January. It seems that cordylines took a hammering this winter,
everywhere. The probability is that the top and most of the trunk is
dead. Does the top of the trunk feel soft and mushy? If so, it is very
likely dead. The good news is that the root may have survived, and if
it has, it will usually send up a shoot or three in a few months time.
Be patient, and if shoots appear, you can cut down the old trunk. If
they don't, you can still cut down the old trunk!

It is certainly worth hanging on to and if the top has started rotting
cutting it back to good wood lower down. They tend to sucker from the
roots in midsummer if the top growth is destroyed by a cold winter.

The ones which really die stone dead in cold winters are tree ferns :(

Regards,
Martin Brown

Is my cordyline tree dead ?
 

On 21/02/2011 10:54, Martin Brown wrote:
On 20/02/2011 22:01, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:16:54 +0000, harvey1964
wrote:


after severe frosts at christmas my cordyline has been shedding leaves
everyday for the last few weeks...its getting very bare looking now ?
will it come back again or is it a goner !!! its been growing for 15
years so far....

There was an almost identical question here towards the end of
January. It seems that cordylines took a hammering this winter,
everywhere. The probability is that the top and most of the trunk is
dead. Does the top of the trunk feel soft and mushy? If so, it is very
likely dead. The good news is that the root may have survived, and if
it has, it will usually send up a shoot or three in a few months time.
Be patient, and if shoots appear, you can cut down the old trunk. If
they don't, you can still cut down the old trunk!

It is certainly worth hanging on to and if the top has started rotting
cutting it back to good wood lower down. They tend to sucker from the
roots in midsummer if the top growth is destroyed by a cold winter.

The ones which really die stone dead in cold winters are tree ferns :(

Regards,
Martin Brown

I wonder about the leptospermum tea tree from down under. No sign of
life on mine. Brown all over but at least no shedding of leaves yet.

If you are lucky, it will come back again from someway part up the truck, so don't cut it (all) down yet. It will almost certainly come back from the roots, around the base of the trunk, but you may not see anything until quite late in the summer.

I thought my largest cordilyne had survived, but the growing centre fell off the other day. It still has green leaves on, so I'm hoping that I'll at least keep the trunk. But apparently the grow back very fast when they are large plants.

My small red one didn't even get through last winter, and about 6 shoots appeard around the base late last summer. I was wondering what would happen this time. So far it looks like osme of them are still firm, so maybe being below snow level they have made it through. But we shall see.

Is my cordyline tree dead ?
 

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

I don't know how good those are at recovering from frost, per se,
but what often sees such plants off in the UK is the rot that so
often follows frost damage. I have lost ALL of my thyme this year,
though it is very hardy against frost as such. Plants like bay,
that will regrow from deep roots, are very different.

The roots try to get back to their homeland so it is rare that they don't
come back from the roots, one of mine did from 3ft down, cut off by
builders, and the top grew too planted elsewhere. Both have suffered this
winter for the first time.

Very like bay, then. A plant like that will be killed only if it
is cut back to the ground for too many years on the trot. Some
can survive that happening every year, but some can't.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

My experience, at least of L scoparium, is that they are rather like ceanothus and leyland cypress in that they don't seem to reshoot from areas of dead leaves. My leptospermum scoparium "red damask" proved rather hardier than the -5 to -6 that was quoted for it, and passed through several -7 winters undamaged (though these -7s were always only brief), and even the (very brief) -9 we had in the 08/09 winter. But the prolonged cold of 09/10 did for it, even though I never recorded below -6 that winter. Another one with white flowers was killed rather more easily.

Is my cordyline tree dead ?
 

On 22/02/2011 13:22, echinosum wrote:
stuart noble;913438 Wrote:
I wonder about the leptospermum tea tree from down under. No sign of
life on mine. Brown all over but at least no shedding of leaves yet.
My experience, at least of L scoparium, is that they are rather like
ceanothus and leyland cypress in that they don't seem to reshoot from
areas of dead leaves. My leptospermum scoparium "red damask" proved
rather hardier than the -5 to -6 that was quoted for it, and passed
through several -7 winters undamaged (though these -7s were always only
brief), and even the (very brief) -9 we had in the 08/09 winter. But
the prolonged cold of 09/10 did for it, even though I never recorded
below -6 that winter. Another one with white flowers was killed rather
more easily.




Thanks. Looks like mine's a gonner too.