Captivating Cordylines in Australia

Hi Kristy,
The Tissue Culture company is a section of Ceylon Tobacco Company. Thus the initials CTC in front of the plants name. No doubt they have expanded into other things besides Tobacco as Tobacco companies have taken a big hit over the last decade or so.
Mya
It is that colouring when at its best. Everyone who sees it loves it. Strangely it has its best colour during the growing season (During winter it may drop colour). We had it out if full sun at one stage and it was even more orange. It does have to have very good light to perform to its best. I have also seen it looking spectacular under beige shadecloth.

Hi Helen, It is great to see you adding more cordylines to your garden again. You just have so much knowledge to pass on to newer collectors. I have added a photo of another of our home bred cordies - Karen. It is a beautifully coloured, compact plant. We are very happy with it

Interesting you say that Helen, I was just wodering the other day if giving them a knick would make them do that. Good to know. I have a few I would want to do that to. I had someone tell me the wood would probably just heal.

Hi Scruff,

Well I'll be buggered hey!! Who would think.... Do you know if they have done more than just cordy's? I'm just thinking why would they choose cordylines to do of all things, out of all the possabilities. Not that I'm knocking it though, keep them coming!! All the better for us. : )

Can't remember who told me that. Could probably aerial layer them as well, then when the top comes off it has plenty of roots. One way to get a lot more stems without losing out on the leaves.

Here is a pic of Subaru... I wish I could grow it well down here!! : ( I like it!

Kristy, you should try Ua Pou, down here it looks very much like Subaru and it is a very strong grower. Re Aussie Delight - you should have a look at the true Morning Sunshine.

Yeah I do have Ua Pou, it's just not as dramatic at Subaru is....

Good idea with aerial roots... have you ever done that?

I'm enjoying the discussions you guys are having, despite being ignorant of all the varieties out there, and you lot are to blame for the sudden urge to plant out all the cordies! I spent wednesday afternoon making 'cordyline walk'. he he
I tried to ID this one using the cordyline link posted back up the thread, but haven't found it. Can anyone tell what it might be? I really like the yellows

Also this one, a mini, with chocolate brown leaves and a cream/green margin.
lower leaves-chocolate brown

And the top leaves with cream and lime/green
Sue

no, I haven't but it is an interesting concept.

Hi Sue,
I would love to see some photos of your cordy walk. What can I say, cordys are addictive. LOL
Your first one looks like Early Morning Diamond with the intensity of colour that I get down here. The yellow changes into a real gold colour in the right light. I have tried to get that colour in a photo, haven't had any luck so far.

Hi Kristy,
The infomation I have on CTC foliage (owned by Ceylon Tobacco Company) just mentions exotic plants, foliage, cut flowers and tissue culture so most likely they tissue all sorts of plants, which are suitable for the foliage and cut flower trade, which have probably found their way into our gardens. Hope they keep creating new varieties for cordyline fanatics.

Hi Scruff,

Yeah I agree.... The more the merrier!! Keep them coming : ) Although these tissue culture things can be a bit precious sometimes , my daughter (only 2) knocked the top off my Pink Champion, it was struggling anyway, we had moved it around a few times already trying to find the right spot for it. Anyway, my husband was devistated as it was just starting to look again, he planted the top back in the ground in another spot, I told him that it would never grow as it was still very cool at night. Well he proved me wrong and then it sported.... it turned into this pink and white variegated plant, it was very pretty till Miss 2 decided she liked it too and picked it like it was a flower.... it then died
: ( If it has happen once I am sure in due time it will happen again.

Moral of the story is I now have no Pink Champion or sport and I don''t know if I'll get another.... we'll see!

Helen if you do give it a go, please let us know how it goes......

Weed woman... with the second cordy you're asking about is it possible to get an all over pic as it is difficult to see what it is that close. Your Early Morning Diamond has great colour... thats where Kiani came from that was posted about half way up, it has real nice intense colour but with a blood red/burgubdy speckle, sometimes a stripe through the leaf. I can't wait for this to be made more readily available to the public.

Thanks for that ID Helen. I will post a pic of Cordy walk and the other unnamed cordy, maybe tomorrow if I remember. Yes, thanks for another addiction. As if Bromeliads wasn't enough! I picked up that Early morning diamond and Waihee rainbow at Bunnings last week. Early Morning Diamond (if thats what it is) was the only one of its colour there and of course, the only unamed one! I was surprised to see something so nice there. i guess i haven't been looking hard enough
I like the pic you posted scruff. Please include names.
CM, you must've been upset about your plant being tip pruned twice! I will scroll back up to see Kiani. Its going to take awhile for me to become familiar withthe different cultivars, especially not having seen them in real life.
Sue

Hi Sue,
It is definitely Early Morning Diamond, I do have this one.
Here are some links from Google showing Early Morning Diamond.
These ones show EMD in its full colour

http://www.itfgs.org/htm/cordyline.htm
http://www.cordylines.com.au/pages/Cordyline%20Early%20Morning%20Diamond.htm
Clayton has it on his website as well
http://www.utopialandscapedesign.com.au/landscaping_ideas/gardens.php
Check them out
Helen

Sue,
If in doubt 'Google' it.

All those links have the same picture....

Did you mean Clayton York.... because this is not him... this is a fella called Aaron who lives hear me. Alright looking web site though!!

This message was edited Nov 1, 2009 4:23 PM

Thanks Helen, that first link had some good info in it for growing them. I have planted my cordy walk along side some gums, so although I dug great big holes and used compost and soil activator, I will have to keep the water up to them through summer.
I will be stoked if my EMD gets the colours in that one! Yes, I usually do google everything, just keep running out of time!
Thanks for taking the time to help me out.
Sue

Does anyone know what this is??

I reckon its not a bromeliad! he he.
This is the pic of the entire plant whose ID I asked for previously.
I can't show you Cordy walk yet, becuase it needs to grow a bit. Maybe toward the end of Autumn.
Sue

Hi Guy's, no offence anyone but my Mum used to call the Cordyline the kanaka plant. We lived in New Guinea, I guess they were somewhat like a weed.
Ebor Falls (just out of Armidale)

Hi Sue,
I do know that plant, my head has gone blank on that one though. Looking forward to autumn photos.
Hi Hel,
They probably would be a weed up in New Guinea. Interesting to know the New Guinea name for the cordys.

Hi Weed woman.... did you say where you got that plant from. That is an interesting little plant there. I am sending it to someone I know who may know what it is. I'm wondering if it is something called Cream Compacta. I have never seen one but was described to me as you have described it, so I will let you know once I have found out.

Hi CM. I bought 2 from a local palm nursery that was closing down. They were in 200mm pots which seemed overkill at the time, but it meant I didn't have to plant them straight away.
Heres a cordy I saw in Brisbane on the weekend. I was hoping to get a cutting, but wasn't sure how to ask. Next time.
Sue

Hi weed woman, thats the one we were talking about earlier int he forum. It's Rainbow Red or it's also called Gold Strip. you were in Brisbane on the wrong weekend. This weekend is The Tropical Foliage Festival.

If anyone is interested check out
www.cordyline.org
for the details.

that would be right! I went to Darwin and tried to tie in the visit with there tropical festival and they had cancelled it! It was still advertised in the magazines though. Luckily the gardens at Government house were open or I would have been mighty peed off!
Nevermind, I had a great weekend last week, and couldn't do it twice in a row. It seems to take me ages to get over a bit of a drive.
I bought another couple of cordys........! Cointreau (although printed plastic label says contreau) and New Guinea augusta. If I didn't have to work there every now and then, I wouldn't buy them, but I can't help it! They've gone into cordyline walk, and the opposite side of the path has now become Vriesea walk. It should look great, given a bit of time to get established.
THANKS for the motivation!
Sue
heres another from the same garden in Brissie

Can't wait to see your new gardens!

Did you see the write up on Cordies in the Sub Tropical garden magazine? I wondered if it wasn't you who wrote the article? It only arrived toady so I haven;t read it from cover to cover yet.
Sue

Hi All,
I have been checking out all of the cordys here in Bali, and have found quite a few more this time around.
Interesting to know the STG mag is out, I will have to catch up with it when I get back. No Kristy wouldn't have written the article, if you look through the mag you will see who the contributers are, if the article doesn't have a name to it, then Paul would have written the article. Strange as it seems I can't write about cordys as I briefly covered them in one of the first issues.
This is only a very quick visit to the forum, will catch up again later.
Helen

It does say Kirsty, but not in the front where contributors are. You lucky duck being in Bali. I will try to get there one day. thunder and lightning , very very frighteningt. must get off this electrical contraption.
Cordy (and vriesea) walk this arvie

This message was edited Nov 15, 2009 7:15 PM

Hi weed woman, yes it was me who wrote the article... It only says that the photos are by me as Paul asked if I would like it as from me or from our society. Of course I chose to have it by the society which is why you won't be able to anything in the front with my name, it is probably there as The International Cordyline Society.

We are pretty happy with how it turned out.... we have the magazine for sale at the Tropical Foliage Festival and they are walking out. Would love to know what you think...

Would love to see some of the photos from Bali Helen....

This message was edited Nov 14, 2009 3:15 PM

Hi Scruff,

It was really nice to meet you in person yesterday, to now be able to a face to the emails and messages. It was really great having your club visit..... Hope you all had a great day!

Kristy

Kristy, now that would have to be a first for STG having someone from a society writing for the mag. You will see some photos in the next issue of STG but I will post some others here when I get back.

I thought the article was great kristy. It confirmed some of what I already knew and taught me a few things I didn't, and the pictures were great too. I love that magazine, and find I will browse it over and over for the next few months. I've been a subscriber since I bought the first one at the news agency.
Cordy walk doesn't look so good in phots yet huh? I knew I should have let it grow a bit first. Its also hard to get the feeling I get from walking through it. Its a curved path and you can't really view it without walking down the length. I will have to experiment with photos to see which angle will show it at its best
Sue

This message was edited Nov 17, 2009 10:10 AM

Hi guys, I'm back from my biological farming course. We've been so busy I haven't had time to post. Not only did we wire the house, put up the ceilings and get me down to Yandina for my course but on my return found the gravity feed water pipes had stuffed up. Yesterday we had a 2 k trip up and down the very steep slippery World Hertiage Rainforest laden creekso we could start the pipes again.
Kristy, Your unknown cordy looks alot like Kaui Rose. Is it sort of intermediate in size? Congrats on the article it was great seeing so many correctly labeled cords lol and it was very informative, lovely photos. I hope STG builds more symbiotic relationships with tropo plant societies. After all your members are their readers :) I'm happy to report I'm only missing one on the collector's must have list and given that only threee people have it I guess it'll be on my must have list for awhile lol.
Madam Scruff, I got that IT listed on Ebay!!! We've bought from Deb before and she very graciously gave me a second chance on IT. Thanks for the heads up.
I still have a bit to catch up on but I'll try and get a few cord shots up. This last lot of rain has got everything pumpin.
Helen, I hope you are still in Bali. Can't wait to see some photos!!! If it makes you feel better Subaru doesn't grow well for me either, seems to do better in a pot.
Ann
ps Where is Sandra relocating to? I saw Santuro Park's website is down.

This message was edited Nov 16, 2009 1:37 AM

Hi Ann,

Wow you have been busy, I was beginning to wonder what happened to you. Could that cordyline be Kauai Beauty?? That is what it was sent to me as but I was unsure if it is correct? I will have to look into it further... Yes I would say intermediate.

Thanks about the article, when I read it it just brought back all the bad feelings I had in trying to write it. I a m no writter!! The one things Paul did stuff up on is my name however... it was my mum who noticed it... he wrote Kirsty instead of Kristy. Bugger he is, it's probabyly the only thing I will ever do and he stuffed it up on me!! I have to email Paul!! I think that is exactly what Paul is trying to do... it is something he has done in the last 5 issues, maybe more. He is getting the different society's to do big articles concentrating on their plant.... and having information for all the differnt regions. He did do that with us though. I had to give the contacts of 5 differnt growers from far north Qld to NSW. I did that but he never contacted them which is a shame as different growing conditions in different climates is important. I was interested in seeing what he was going to put togther on that but he has printed it as I wrote it practically.

Oh well that will have to Kiani you are chasing then... LOL. All in due time... we are working on it.... : )

Bye for now...

Oh yes... and Sandra is looking to move down to the Sunshine Coast way, maybe around Caboolture, that is as low as she will go. She has sold her her potted plants for the on line shop.... she has her collection all potted up to take with her when she moves. The shop will stay there but will not be working, shes not sure what she is going to do with it. She wants to take some time off for a few years and get settled and I guess she will make a decission from there. It will be great to have her closer...

Hi All,
I finally have a minute to spare. I just never seem to have much time these days what with looking after the plants mainly cordylines of course plus our other love - mini neoregelias. Working on the magazine for The International Tropical Foliage & Garden Society Inc. and updating the CD-rom Cordylines A-Z (that of course is an on-going job, with new cultivars appearing all the time and I have been slack lately and have a bit of catching up to do)

Ann- I am thrilled to hear you are now the owner of an 'It' , Make sure you give it plenty of light to get the good colouring. Plus don't keep it too wet, it has inherited the Early Morning Diamond (the pollen parent) trait of geting the sulks if it is not very well drained. Also did your New Guinea Fan breed true. We have seed on one of ours but I don' t know if they are self set or have been insect pollinated with something else.

Kristy - It was nice to meet you in person at the weekend. We had a great trip even though we never scored anything new for our collections.

I don' t know if you were there when we were discussing the new insect pest we have in Bundaberg. We originally thought it was grasshopper damage and I am afraid the grasshopper was convicted on circumstantial evidence but it was actually caused by of all things a bee - The leaf cutting bee. It was imported from North America to improve pollination of Lucerne crops.
I have included photo of a Happy Giant showing the damage. And here I was thinking we had a very neat grasshopper giving us these unusual serrated edges on our cordylines.
Is anyone else having the same problem?

Hi Ann,
Yes I am still in Bali and enjoying all the gardens and the plants. They could do with an injection of new cordys here. A. purpurata is in full flower here and so are the heliconias including the psits.Been too busy enjoying it all here to even start of those articles.
Helen