NEW AGMs (H3) hardiness rating H3 = not reliably hardy
Cordyline australis 'Torbay Dazzler' (left) - cream leaves irregularly striped with green
Cordyline australis 'Lemon Fountain' - green leaves irregularly striped with yellow
Cordyline 'Purple Tower' - dark purple, very broad leaves
For a complete list of cordyline plants under trial click here
The objective of the trial was to assemble the different cultivars now available and to determine which were best for growing in containers. Three very distinctly different cordylines were recommended for the AGM.
Almost all cordylines available for sale today will have been micropropagated. This always tends to sporting in a small percentage of the propagules, and these are sometimes grown on and given new cultivar names.
Vegetative propagation of Cordyline is done via its 'toes' or 'knees' (the knobbly growing points on its roots). For the home gardener this is probably the best way to propagate their cabbage palms, if and when they get too large for their container.
There are many problems with the names of Cordyline cultivars and one of the objectives of the trial was to sort some of them out. James Armitage, RHS Botanist, was responsible for this trial and here are some of his findings.
Cordyline is perhaps one of the most nomenclaturally confused genera in cultivation and one in which illegitimate re-naming and misidentification of cultivars is prevalent. The 2003 trial of Cordyline in containers, therefore, offered a welcome opportunity to study these often overlooked plants. One longstanding query concerns the distinctiveness of the popular C. australis ‘Torbay Dazzler’ from the old cultivar ‘Albertii’. One of the factors that has made this issue so difficult to resolve is that early descriptions of ‘Albertii’ are very mixed, ranging from 'margined with bright bands of yellow' to 'the leaves of which are striped with white, and have a rose-coloured margin'. The plants themselves show considerable variation, from narrow-leaved specimens with marginal banding to much broader-leaved examples with wider variegation, more nearly resembling ‘Torbay Dazzler’. It is possible that the name ‘Albertii’ now covers some of the variegated Victorian cultivars such as ‘Albolineata’ and ‘Doucettiana’. A satisfactory resolution will require an in depth study.
Although the trial mainly comprised cultivars attributed to Cordyline australis, two entries were of clear hybrid origin. C. ‘Purple Tower’ is a striking plant bearing plum-purple leaves and derived from a cross between C. australis and C. banksii. It is distinguishable from C. australis by its broader leaf, distinct petiole and venation which diverges to the margins rather than being strictly parallel. C. ‘Red Fountain’ is stated by the raiser to be a cross between a C. australis x C. banksii hybrid and the low-growing C. pumilio. It does not form a proper trunk and has long, very glossy, narrow, bright red leaves.
The recent proliferation in the number of Cordyline cultivars is due in no small part to the incidence of sports occurring during the process of micropropagation. Among the cultivars in trial that had arisen in this fashion were ‘Pink Champagne’, a plant with narrow leaves and somewhat pink-tinged marginal variegation and ‘Lemon Fountain’, an exciting new introduction marked with irregular stripes of pale green and yellow. Both are said to be microprop sports of ‘Sundance’ and, if this is so, the diversity of form emergent from mutations of one clone is remarkable.