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#1
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Cordyline
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. Chris S |
#2
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Cordyline
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 |
#3
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Cordyline
On Sun, 17 Nov 2002 00:05:20 -0000, "Chris Stewart"
wrote: Hi all - some advice please Further to my last post, the helpful and curious bunny in me went and looked up Cordyline. PFAF : (there are two species) The species you might expect to have acquired in Blighty are australis - A very ornamental plant[1], it is not very cold-hardy, tolerating short-lived lows down to about -10°c[260]. It only succeeds outdoors in the milder areas of Britain[1, 11, 59]. It grows very well in Cornwall where it often self-sows[1, 11, 59]. A form with purplish leaves is hardier than the type and succeeds outdoors in Gloucestershire[11]. and indivisa - Plants are not very hardy in Britain, they tolerate temperatures down to about -3°c[260] though one report says that they can survive occasional lows down to about -10°c[11]. They succeed outdoors in the milder areas of Britain[11]. This species is more tender than C. australis[49, 59]. Funnily enough at the residential home where my 98 yr old auntie lives I have admired a Cordyline. Maybe it is exactly this plant that they mentioned with reference to the australis specimen in Gloucestershire as she lives in that very county (but close to the warming influence of the Severn Estuary). RHS 'paedia pictures a cultivar 'Atropurpurea' but the one at Wisma didn't look obviously purple to me. It's about 20' tall, never gets protection, and I noticed on my last visit it had been quite severely lopped. The reference for the minus 10 is: Conservatory and Indoor Plants Volumes 1 & 2 Phillips. R. & Rix. M The reference for the tree in Glos. is: Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Bean. W. I am sure it will be like my Butia. Once the crown gains sufficient height to be out of the reach of the freezing *wet* at ground level, it will be safe. The complete bumph for C. australis goes as follows: Cultivation: Prefers a good sandy loam rich in humus[1]. Succeeds in full sun or light shade[188]. A very wind hardy plant, tolerating maritime exposure[49, 166]. A very ornamental plant[1], it is not very cold-hardy, tolerating short-lived lows down to about -10°c[260]. It only succeeds outdoors in the milder areas of Britain[1, 11, 59]. It grows very well in Cornwall where it often self-sows[1, 11, 59]. A form with purplish leaves is hardier than the type and succeeds outdoors in Gloucestershire[11]. The flowers have a delicious sweet scent that pervades the air to a considerable distance[245]. Mice often kill young plants by eating out the pith of the stem[11]. Edible uses (if you decide you've had enough of it!): Root - baked[105, 153, 173, 177]. It can also be brewed into an intoxicating drink[183]. Pith of the trunk - dried and steamed until soft[173]. Sweet and starchy, it is used to make porridge or a sweet drink[173]. The root and stems are rich in fructose, the yields compare favourably with sugar beet (Beta vulgaris altissima)[153]. Edible shoots - a cabbage substitute[105, 128, 173]. The leaves are very fibrous even when young, we would not fancy eating them[K]. Other uses: The leaves contain saponins, but not in commercial quantities[153]. The leaves contain a strong fibre, used for making paper, twine, cloth, baskets, thatching, rain capes etc[1, 46, 61, 128, 153]. The whole leaves would be used for some of these applications. When used for making paper, the leaves are harvested in summer, they are scraped to remove the outer skin and are then soaked in water for 24 hours prior to cooking[189]. Respect from the bunny. Hussein |
#4
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Cordyline
"Hussein M." wrote in message ... On Sun, 17 Nov 2002 00:05:20 -0000, "Chris Stewart" wrote: Hi all - some advice please Further to my last post, the helpful and curious bunny in me went and looked up Cordyline. PFAF : (there are two species) The species you might expect to have acquired in Blighty are australis - A very ornamental plant[1], it is not very cold-hardy, tolerating short-lived lows down to about -10°c[260]. It only succeeds outdoors in the milder areas of Britain[1, 11, 59]. It grows very well in Cornwall where it often self-sows[1, 11, 59]. A form with purplish leaves is hardier than the type and succeeds outdoors in Gloucestershire[11]. and indivisa - Plants are not very hardy in Britain, they tolerate temperatures down to about -3°c[260] though one report says that they can survive occasional lows down to about -10°c[11]. They succeed outdoors in the milder areas of Britain[11]. This species is more tender than C. australis[49, 59]. Funnily enough at the residential home where my 98 yr old auntie lives I have admired a Cordyline. Maybe it is exactly this plant that they mentioned with reference to the australis specimen in Gloucestershire as she lives in that very county (but close to the warming influence of the Severn Estuary). RHS 'paedia pictures a cultivar 'Atropurpurea' but the one at Wisma didn't look obviously purple to me. It's about 20' tall, never gets protection, and I noticed on my last visit it had been quite severely lopped. The reference for the minus 10 is: Conservatory and Indoor Plants Volumes 1 & 2 Phillips. R. & Rix. M The reference for the tree in Glos. is: Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Bean. W. I am sure it will be like my Butia. Once the crown gains sufficient height to be out of the reach of the freezing *wet* at ground level, it will be safe. The complete bumph for C. australis goes as follows: Cultivation: Prefers a good sandy loam rich in humus[1]. Succeeds in full sun or light shade[188]. A very wind hardy plant, tolerating maritime exposure[49, 166]. A very ornamental plant[1], it is not very cold-hardy, tolerating short-lived lows down to about -10°c[260]. It only succeeds outdoors in the milder areas of Britain[1, 11, 59]. It grows very well in Cornwall where it often self-sows[1, 11, 59]. A form with purplish leaves is hardier than the type and succeeds outdoors in Gloucestershire[11]. The flowers have a delicious sweet scent that pervades the air to a considerable distance[245]. Mice often kill young plants by eating out the pith of the stem[11]. Edible uses (if you decide you've had enough of it!): Root - baked[105, 153, 173, 177]. It can also be brewed into an intoxicating drink[183]. Pith of the trunk - dried and steamed until soft[173]. Sweet and starchy, it is used to make porridge or a sweet drink[173]. The root and stems are rich in fructose, the yields compare favourably with sugar beet (Beta vulgaris altissima)[153]. Edible shoots - a cabbage substitute[105, 128, 173]. The leaves are very fibrous even when young, we would not fancy eating them[K]. Other uses: The leaves contain saponins, but not in commercial quantities[153]. The leaves contain a strong fibre, used for making paper, twine, cloth, baskets, thatching, rain capes etc[1, 46, 61, 128, 153]. The whole leaves would be used for some of these applications. When used for making paper, the leaves are harvested in summer, they are scraped to remove the outer skin and are then soaked in water for 24 hours prior to cooking[189]. Respect from the bunny. Hussein Thank you, you're a star. Now if it croaks, at least it'll have had a chance!! Chris S |
#5
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Cordyline
On Sun, 17 Nov 2002 20:13:19 -0000, "Chris Stewart"
wrote: Thank you, you're a star. Now if it croaks, at least it'll have had a chance!! Thanks for that - I'll feel more inclined to help others. BTW - because the garden I grow is constantly gazed on by the general public I think I am going to spray the visible side of the bubble wrap with some dark brown/green enamel paint. The glistening white is not very in keeping while there is no snow. H. |
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