Cordyline stricta
20th October 2010
Cordyline stricta is a shrubby Australian species from Queensland and New South Wales, naturalised further south in Victoria.
My plant came from Hardy Exotics and I was warned that it wasn't likely to be hardy. I grow it in the greenhouse through the summer
and then it comes into the house for the winter. It is growing steadily and eventually it will no longer be possible to move it.
At that point we will find out how hardy it really is!
There is an established plant growing in the Temperate House at Kew that looks very similar but doesn't have such distinctly red tinged new growth.
12th March 2014
11th July 2020
It was cut to the base in 2018 when the Beast from the East blew freezing air against the back wall for a fortnight but ti grew back from the base surprisingly rapidly.