Dracaenia Spike Plant

I live in Squamish BC Canada & have several of the above plants which have been left in the ground & planters over the Winter.They seem to still be alive but looking very weathered & sad with brown wilting spikes. I'm wondering if I can give them a haircut to remove all the wilted, dead & brown spikes etc. Normally they don't survive the Winter so I really don't want to damage them now by cutting them back. How can I clean these up. Thanks for your help.

 

You can absolutely trim them back to the green stuff and they should be OK.

 

USDA 9 plant freezing down at about 15-20F but often coming back from roots. Mild waterfront sites may have them keep their tops for years, form trunks with leaf rosettes at top.

'Spikes' Dracaena is a made-up nursery name, botanically your plant is Cordyline australis. Use the latter name if doing anymore web searches for information about it.

 

Here's my cordyline after 6 years in the garden(top right hand corner). Now close to 12 feet tall. I do not know of any other big ones in my area. I continually peel off the lower, browned leaves. Be aware though, if you actually cut the top off it will likely start growing from the base.

 

And a photo taken today...

 

I would never have imagined a garden like that *anywhere* in Canada.....

 

Shhh...we're trying our best to keep it a secret. Gotta hook up soon palmera.

Cheers, LPN.

 

Beautiful Garden Palmera, How long does it take for a Dracaenia spike plant to grow that big? What kind of palm do you have growing by the rocks in front? What is the zone in BC Canada? Maybe I need to move North to grow a garden like that.

Tom24

 

Thanks Tom, this Cordyline I estimate to be 10 years old. It was given to me by my father (in Chilliwack) 6 years ago when it had outgrown the largest pot he had, which happened to be his shop-vac canister! He had given it much TLC. It was 4 years old, 5 feet tall and it still had all it's leaves. He had been keeping it in his garage for the winters as they are often colder than where I am here (zone 8).

As for the palm by the rocks, it was a Jubaea chilensis (chilian wine palm) and I say 'was', as sadly it did not make the winter. It was quite small but I had high hopes it might tough out the winter anyways. Oh well, another gardening opportunity!

(LPN, soon I hope, but I have many travels upcoming. Mexico, Inuvik, Ottawa) Send me a note when you're down this way...