Hi Maz and welcome! I'm sorry I have bad news. The orange gunk means that the trunk is rotting - it was badly damaged by frost. You'll need to cut off the trunk below the place the goo is coming from to stop the rot spreading, and hope that the plant regrows from the roots. The good news is that there is a pretty good chance that it will regrow, but you may need to wait until about June for that to happen.

You are not alone with this problem - we get asked this at least twice a day! So all over the UK there are people with their fingers crossed, hoping their Cordyline has a future.

Hi Maz. My 2 cordylines have the same problem. after reading an article in a recent magazine, i have cut them right down as Beattie suggests, and then i have placed fleece over the top of the them to try and protect the crown from any further frost damage.