Cordyline Species, Narrow-Leaved Palm-Lily

For reasonably mild regions, this is a splendid Cordyline and a pleasing alternative to the 'mop-heads' of the more frequently grown C. a...Read Moreustralis. The style of growth is more relaxed - tending to produce suckers as well as branching after flowering. In this way it can slowly (or quickly) colonise an area, but never as invasively as the creeping bamboos. It is especially attractive when producing its arching racemes of lilac-coloured flowers. I have this growing beneath an evergreen tree where it receives overhead shade, but gets early and late sun. We've just had the longest and coldest winter in 20 years with vicious biting winds persisting for several weeks. C. stricta came through with virtually no damage at all.