First time post. Can anyone help me ID this wonderful plant in my garden. We live in the North of England and this 'palm' faces south so catches all the sun. This year for the first time it has flowered. There must be about 100 bees on the flower today that is filling the garden with a lovely smell of vanilla. Thanks Tony.
Thanks for that Chris. Just goes to show how global warming is changing our gardens.We've had this plant for around 8 years now and its grown over 12 feet tall !
Yep, Cordyline australis. They've been grown in gardens in Britain since 1823, so this one can't really be used to demonstrate global warming!
To follow-up on this, could someone clarify a bit of something for me? I have purchased several 'Blue Spike Dracaena,' which are generally tagged as 'Dracaena Indivisa.' My understanding is that they are actually Cordyline Australis. Part of my confusion stems from what is what, and what I can actually expect. What I want is the fellow like the photos above. That being said, that's why I bought the ones I bought. The tags say they may or may not make it in my Z9a/b, and it will likely be an annual. "Maximum height, 18" - 24"," they say, "plant 9" apart"... I thought this was a tree that got 20' - 30,' first of all, and, secondly, if they're doing just fine in bloody England, how can they not do well in Southern Texas?!?!? I've seen photos from people growing them in Canada for the love of pete!!!
Very odd, DG - Cordyline normally love the humidity and heat - Houston is humid subtropical, no? They grow great guns for me and have no problem attaining incredible heights, but then again I'm in Z12. I used to grow them in Canada, and so long as the humidity didn't go below 65% they were OK. Equally, I don't think you're getting too hot for them. Plant 'em out and see what happens - the tag may be referring to trying to overwinter them without protection, but for pete's sake, people grow banana trees in Texas, why not Cordyline?
That's part of the confusion... Spent 3 hours trying to figure out what is what by starting out with 'blue spike dracaena,' and just took it from there. Found references to Dracaena Indivisa, but then found out it was highly unlikley to actually be that, but that it was most likely C. Australis, but then read somewhere that it may not actually be C. Australis because it's apparently stressfully rare and unheard of to grow succesfully outside of New Zealand... *Something* like that!
Now treated in Cordyline as Cordyline indivisa. So the plants could well be that species, even if they look like Cordylines. PS plant species names always take lower case: Cordyline australis, not "Cordyline Australis". Also punctuation is never part of a species name! (i.e., "Cordyline australis", not "Cordyline australis,")
I haven't seen "blue spikes dracaena" before, that would appear to be a combination of "spikes dracaena" for Cordyline australis and blue dracaena for C. indivisa. Outlets here have sometimes had C. australis tagged 'Spikes' dracaena as though it were a cultivar of that name. A small grower here has ordered seeds of C. indivisa for years and always been supplied with C. australis. You can tell them apart by the lack of forking of the stem (hence the species name) as well as the broader leaves of C. indivisa. It is also rare in North America whereas C. australis is very common in suitable climates, being sold in small sizes as a summer annual. As long as winter temperatures remain moderate many of these persist (unless discarded in fall or winter along with the frosted and dead genuine annuals they were planted with) to grow on into much larger specimens. And during those winters when the tops are killed re-growth may occur from the roots. Many here do not get far enough along between killing winters to fork much, if at all. The difference in forking between the two species becomes apparent when looking at fully developed specimens growing where they are not subject to frost injury. There C. australis may produce a tall specimen with many trunks merging near the ground into a massive base.
Who ever said that has got it wrong. They are common as bread over here in Australia and I have seen many pics from USA, so there is probably a fair few of them over there... Ed
