My cabbage palms have not enjoyed the winter here in very South of Ireland : Grows on You

Ireland

My cabbage palms have not enjoyed the winter here in very South of Ireland where we normally get 10 mild frosts a year, but this year we had numerous night of below -10 C. This specimen is about 15 feet high. It loses quite a lot of leaves as it is pretty windy here, but that is normal. Fantastic flower plumes every summer. My question is what to do next? More and more leaf "heads" are coming off. If I cut back the bare stumps to "living" wood is there any chance they will resprout new leaves. If at all possible, I want to avoid having to be very radical. Anyone any experience with this? And at what stage should I get a saw out?

On plant Cordyline australis

25 Feb, 2010

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Answers

Bamboo

I'd leave it till April/May, see if its putting out new growth from the centres at the top of each stem. If not, then it might be worth sawing it back to see if it sprouts.

25 Feb, 2010

Pottingmad

We have 3 palms about 20' high. Although we don't usually prune them we removed a few heads last year as they were too dominant. We did this, as BB suggests in late April. They now have new little heads growin from just below the cut points. We had quite a mild climate here so you might want to leave it a 'till early May.

26 Feb, 2010

Bobleen

Thanks to both of you.

26 Feb, 2010

How do I say thanks?

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