Wendy, I'm just going to give you my experience. I put my Cordylines outside in early spring and because I have almost no shade, the old leaves often sunburn, discolor and turn yellow but as new leaves appear they are vibrantly colored and healthy, even though our temps are in the high nineties now. They thrive in high heat and several hours full sun as long as I keep them watered (daily or every other day). I think your plant may need more light and less watering, especially if your home is airconditioned. A tropical plant can do well in cooler temps and less light than its native home but needs less water as it will be slower growing. My plants in winter only need watering every 10 days to 2 weeks. (If they get too dry they may lose a leaf but if roots are constantly wet I may lose the whole plant). Your plant probably came straight from full sun or perhaps under shadecloth in high temps...it needs time to adjust and put out new leaves suited to its new environment. These are pretty tough plants...they just sulk when growing conditions suddenly change. Good luck. josh

For the past several years I've had a potted majesty palm which has never looked happy. I cared for it diligently, but it grew slowly, the foliage looked kind of ratty, and nothing I did made it snap out of its funk. To top it off, I noticed about a week ago that it had become home to a sizable population of mealybugs. So I put it outside, right in time for our biggest cold snap of the season. It got down to 2F, and those mealybugs bought it big time. Of course, the plant itself is deader than a doornail, but so what? It's an example to all the rest of those laggards indoors. Shape up, or else.

When confronted with this type of problem I first investigate the following as a probable cause: 1. Was some type of a trench dug along the section of dying maples? If so, possible explanation could be introduction of Verticillium wilt into trees through cut roots. A common problem with maples. It this did happen we can tell you how to quickly check your maple for possible V. wilt infection. 2. This one I learned from experience and observation when dealing with street trees. If there is an underground gas line in the vicinity of the trees it may have one or more pin holes slowly leaking gas which, in time, kills the trees. If this is the situation have the gas company check for leaks. This is often an unrecognized problem in older neighborhoods. Leaking gas can travel underground along tree roots for quite a distance. This was a lesson driven home to me one day. I will post the details someday when there is time.

Thanks, bahia, I knew you've give me the lowdown. Okay, so they are planted in a very well-draining area of my garden, somewhat protected by heavy winter rains as they are understory (but not totally out of the rain, as in under a ledge). So, hopefully the soil will not stay too wet during our winter rains - if we get any this year, which I sure hope so. If we got 2" of rain this last season, that would be generous. Snails are always problematic in my yard. Funny, in doing a search about this cultivar, one of the entries I found was someone using it as their "mollusk indicator", lol! Not sure what's worse - coleus, kalanchoes/foxtail agaves, acanthus, or Porphyrocoma for snails. I should own stock in Sluggo. I'll see how it does. I'll surround it with Deadline. Ugly, but will keep the snails and slugs off. I will definitely hunt down 'Festival', 'Cha Cha', and 'Electric Pink' as well. They make great backdrop plants for all my green things, and a nice option to blooming shade plants whose color comes and goes. Patty S.