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scooby

By Scooby

Cleveland, United Kingdom Gb

What do I do with the palm flower stalk??, should I cut it off or leave it to it’s own devices.?. This is the first time it’s actually flowered in the six years I’ve had it btw..



Cabbage_palm_in_flower_2 Cabbage_palm_in_flower_1

Answers

 

oooohhh....leave it leave it leave it !!!!

When it's died back it will turn really brittle and you can just snap it off. But in the meantime, leave it alone and enjoy it !!

1 Aug, 2010

 

Thanks very much ;-) I’ll do just that.. I very nearly took the loppers to it…….

1 Aug, 2010

 

Valuable for bees and other wildlife - leave until browned and withered. Lovely, healthy Cordyline, with stunning flowers!

1 Aug, 2010

 

The flowers are normally followed by quite attractive white berries studded along the flowers branches so another reason to leave. Edible too I believe but probably best not to try!

You can sow the small black seeds inside of the berries when fully ripe in spring.

The flower stalk when finished effectively terminates the stem and makes it branch so you will end up with two or three new proper stem branches in due course. Each time it flowers, the proper stems branch again. Really old plants end up with a large multi-headed crown of leaf rosettes.

1 Aug, 2010

 

@ David & Fractal,

Thanks guys for your reply’s, I’ve never had a palm before. This particular plant was already in the garden when I moved into my house, from what my neighbours tell me it was planted at least two years prior to me coming here. So that would make it around eight years old now.. The flowers have almost gone but the bees are still buzzing around quite a bit.I’m really looking forward now to seeing how things develop….. If the berries are edible I wonder what kind of wine they might produce?? Just a thought…. I wonder too, how big might this plant become? At present it stands almost eight feet tall. Has it much more to go do you think???

2 Aug, 2010

 

A lot more. Not sure of possible max height, but my dad had one which reached 3 storeys high. To the right of your question above, you will see a link, "Featured on cordylines". Click on it to go to the cordylines page. Scroll down past all the pics and blogs to the questions section, where you will find many questions on this plant asked and answered by members. I'm sure there is info on height, etc in there.

2 Aug, 2010

 

I'll do that, Thanks again for your time David. ;-)

2 Aug, 2010

How do I say thanks?

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