Cordyline Australis - Cultivation Today

Cultivation Today

Cordyline australis is one of the most widely cultivated New Zealand native trees, very popular as an ornamental tree in Europe, Great Britain and the United States. Hardy forms from the coldest areas of the southern or inland South Island tolerate Northern Hemisphere conditions best, while North Island forms are much more tender. It is easily grown from fresh seed — seedlings often spontaneously appear in gardens from bird-dispersed seed — and can be grown very easily from shoot, stem and even trunk cuttings. It does well in pots and tubs.

It is also widely planted in western Europe and the Northwest coast of the United States. It is particularly popular in Britain, where it is thought to resemble a palm tree. Cabbage trees can grow well as far north as western coast of Scotland, in places where the Gulf Stream tempers the climate, including the village of Plockton.. It is more common in Southern England, and in Ireland. It is occasionally mis-named Cornish palm, Dracaena palm, Manx palm, or Torquay/Torbay palm in the British Isles. The last name is due to its extensive use in Torbay, it being the official symbol of that area, used in tourist posters promoting South Devon as the English Riviera. It also grows in Spain, Italy and Japan. Even though the natural distribution of C. australis ranges from a subtropical 34° S to a mid-latitude 46°S, and despite its ultimately tropical origins, it also grows at about five degrees from the Arctic Circle in Masfjorden, Norway, latitude 61ºN, in a microclimate protected from arctic winds and moderated by the Gulf Stream.