Re: Cordyline indivisa update


--- Tony and Moira Ryan <tomory@xtra.co.nz> wrote:

> You are to be congratulated in getting this most
> difficult species to 
> this stage and your seedlings certainly look
> healthy.

Thank you! They seem to dislike shallow soil. When I
transplanted them, I noticed how long their roots are,
even at a small stage. 


> 
> I should though be very cautious about how much sun
> they get, In the 
> wild they are strictly a mountain species and do not
> take at all kindly 
> to lowland heat.

These yellowed a bit during the warmest part of
spring, but as we never truly get hot here or event
hat warm, I think a shady spot would do them well.
Hopefully as they get older the canopy in the garden
will fill in, so I can place them in a nice shaded
spot. 

> 
> I have had little personal experience of this
> species myself as a garden 
> plant, though I have seen them growing in the wild
> and they are  most 
> handsome with large and beautiful leaves.

They are pretty gorgeous. I've seen pictures and I've
got to say I'm impressed. Of plants with a similar
form, only Richea pandanifolia can compare (although
they look a bit like a messier C. australis.)


> the scare had had a curious effect though on our
> local perception of the 
> charm and value of the plant and now one sees new
> young specimens 
> everywhere, especially in municipal plantings. We
> look like being 
> engulfed in a wave of cabbage trees in the next few
> years!

I really appreciate the form of these plants. Well
cared for Cabbage trees are gorgeous, and a lot airier
than the too commonly planted Yucca elephantipes. Very
few exotic looking non-coniferous plants tolerate the
constant wind and cool we have here. Even a few broad
leaved deciduous trees end up gettng wind blown with
half the crown dead here. 

I myself have a couple of these plants, and the elder
is beginning to take off. It seems once they reach a
point where they've established enough of a root
system, given plenty of water they seem to skyrocket.
I've seen one C. austalis go from 5 feet high to over
10 in a couple of years. 
 


> Looks uncommonly like the annual S, nigrum (Black
> nightshade) to me.

> It was wise to pull it up before it could set fruit
> as it can be hard to 
> eradicate once established because of copious
> seeding. If you had left 
> it you would have got small round berries, which are
> poisonous while 
> green but when mature turn a rich black and are said
> to then be edible!
> 

Very interesting. Well, i'd rather pull it up than
keep it just for novelty. While new types of weeds
appear in the garden now, I'd rather not let them get
a foot hold anyway!
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