How old or tall does a trachy (fortunei or waggy) have to be before I can expect it to bloom and produce seed? LPN, I am hoping my new additions would start producing in a couple of years? Is this reasonable? View my 3 new additions! They add some much needed "spike" to my landscape. (And impressed the neighbors!)
When they do start they will usually be unisexual, so fruits will be produced by "female" specimens only.
palmera ... I've seen these produce infloresence on palms just somewhat larger than these. There's really nothing that I'm aware of that triggers the flowering. Others have been much taller before flowering. As Ron B says, you'll need both a male and female palms for seed set. Until then you have no way of knowing what each will become. They look great and should be fairly fast growing once they've settled in. Cheers, LPN.
I have just aquired a stem of seeds from a trachy. They are still on the branch, green, and quite plump. Is it too soon to have picked them? Will they still ripen? Any recommendations?
palmera, They should be fine but the best germination is usually after the seed ripens (overwinter) to a dark brown or bluish purple color. I usually wait until February, but you sould get some decent results just the same. Cheers, LPN.
"They add some much needed "spike" to my landscape" Have you tried growing cordylines, yuccas and Agave for " spike " also?
Carol, I actually have several yuccas and agaves in the yard but they are dwarfed by the other faster growing plants. By the time they grown into a decent size, the palms should be much taller and resemble trees more than the spiky plants they appear to be now! The phormiums I added well also help to create a mix of texture. I have a couple of cordylines in my back yard as it is more protected there. One I planted in the spring, given to me by my dad in Chilliwack. It is 10 feet tall. It had out grown his largest pot (a shop-vac canister!) and he was going to take it to the green land fill! I brought it back to the island at Xmas, half hanging out of the back of my truck with a red flag on it. I was worried that the lady at the ferrry terminal was going to charge me an over-length surcharge! But I told her I knew Barrie and she let me go, lol! No, she probably just either felt sorry for me or hadn't had a good laugh in a while. I am hoping that it is mature enough to tough out the winters. I also have a smaller one, a 4 footer, that seems tp be happy. Here's a question for those of you that have cordylines...I have a couple of burgundy ones that I have been keeping in a pot for the last few years, afraid they might freeze inground. Is anyone successfully growing the colored ones year-round in the ground and what, if any, protection are you giving it?
I have three red ones in the ground new this year. However, bananajoe took some pictures of some red ones at a property that my boyfriend designed and built the pictures are posted online somewhere, I'll hunt it down. they have been in the ground for six+ years. I think the owners mulch the bottoms, but nothing else.
Beautiful cordylines. I am definately inspired to try to let them get large. As you have some inground, I think I'll let you be my experiment to see how they do this winter. Let me know how they do...
Great. Hopefully they won't bite the dust. I hear that we are in for a warmer than normal winter, hopefully this will help.
Cordylines start to die down when it gets into the teens F. During a recent winter when it got below 20 in many parts of Seattle area there was an noticeable separation between purple and green cordylines growing near one another, the purple ones often dying but many of the green ones keeping their tops. The long-established pattern in most locations down here is for cordylines to form trunks and get a little height, then freeze back to the roots and start over again, repeatedly.
I'm wondering if it would be enough protection during a cold snap if the leaves were tied upwards, against the trunk and heavily mulched. Or if you'd have to actually wrap these like a dicksonia. I would think that if you got it through enough winters and it formed a decent trunk, it would survive on it's own.
palmera, These don't seem to be any hardier with age. Anything around -8c to -9c seems to be the breaking point. So they can survive for a number of years without a care. Once these begin to branch and grow tall, it would become increasingly difficult to find a way to protect it from bitter cold. Cheers, LPN.
