.png) Cordyline australis 'Torbay Dazzler'
- common names: New Zealand cabbage palm
- flowering season: summer -- flowers only with age
- height: not quick growing, this will take some time before it is larger than three or four feet
- Light requirements: sun
- Soil requirements: average
- Water requirments: undemanding unless grown in a pot
- Growth habit: single stemmed when young; with age it will become multi stemmed
- How to propagate: by stem cuttings
- Leaf type: long, sword-like and with many colors
- Ways to use it: in the South this can be grown outdoors; in colder climates must be grown in a container; it makes a great exclamation point at the center of a large pot where it can be surrounded by lower colorful plants
- Special characteristics: has a richly tropical appearance
Belonging to the lily family, the wild form of this plant can grow to thirty feet in height after many years as a branching tree. 'Torbay Dazzler' is a newer selection whose ultimate height is yet unknown, although older specimens of it have grown up to six feet so far. The long, narrow sword-like leaves are green edged in bright cream. As it can only survive winter temperatures down to 15°F, in most of North America we need to grow it in a container so it can be wintered over indoors. If kept in a small pot a young plant makes a fine houseplant for a sunny window, and can be moved outdoors in summer onto a patio or deck. As time goes by it could be moved into a bigger and bigger pot and will continue to keep getting taller and taller until it is too big to easily move. In coastal California it can be grown in full sun, but inland it should be shaded from the hot afternoon sun. Clusters of sweetly fragrant flowers are produced on older plants in early summer. 'Torbay Dazzler' was selected and named at the Torbay Palm Farm, located in the balmy English Riviera. |
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