So? How did this plant variety do over the winter? Will it be going out again this summer? One year, after a light frost, my cordylines (2 - regular green) still looked good, so I thought I'll try to keep over the winter - maybe I'll have a HUGE spike to plant out next spring with my geraniums. Everyone here calls these plants 'spikes', they are sold in masses in the spring, in teeny 2" pots, the plants have only 4-7 leaves, and that's what mine had started out as. But it grew well, so after this frost, I semi-carefully dug it out of the pot, it had lots of long roots, which I trimmed off so I could fit it into a 1 gallon nursery pot to bring indoors. With all the root pruning, and I only had to trim back a few older leaves that were dying, I did not lose any growth after bringing it in. It continued to grow over the winter, so much so that it's diameter was 4 feet, and I could hardly wait to take it back outside 'cause it was taking up valuable living space. It was placed in a large 6 foot SW facing window, and got good sun. I watered it as little as possible, no fertilizer until late in February. In the spring, the special treatment I had to give it was that I fashioned a 'cast' out of paper, sort of like a narrow toilet paper tube, to put around the newer center leaves, since we get strong winds in the spring, and the new growth would not be strong enough to handle that. After I couple of weeks outside I could remove his paper cast (there would have been new outdoor leaves coming up) and he grew happily, though this big cordyline did not leave a whole lot of room for my flowers! But he looked majestic beginning of June, whereas most years they look that way come the end of August. The other thing is that I would have originally paid $1 for him when he was little, for the size I stuck out the following year, those ones ran at $10 in the local nurseries, and they still weren't near as big as mine! Since I would never fork out that kind of moola for a 'spike', it was satisfying to me that I could have a big one at the cost of reusing a recycled nursery pot, and some potting soil - cheap....kioni.

Hi Bev, Found the following- Carex buchananii - own, (it survives Zone 5 in the right spot and people comment on it's look!) Francoa sonchifolia 20 very small seeds from England 2008 (not hardy here in Zone 5) Ornamental Millet from 2005  own Saxifraga x Ardensii ÂPurple Robe Own, saved this summer - seems to be dust like seed (a very small amt.) What do you think? IÂll email you about a trade?

Seeds I have to trade: Mixed Hybrid sunflowers purple castor bean (lots) new zealand purple castor bean canna seeds windmill palm seeds ( from last year im not sure if they will still germinate) Seeds I am looking for: fatsia japonica Lophophora diffusa green cator bean Cardinal Vine purple hyacinth bean Helianthus sunspots (variegated sunflower) Maize quadricolour Nicotiana tabacum variegatum Amaranth coleus Amaranthus early splendor,Illumination, love lies bleeding and others large french marigolds (im open for other interesting seeds) Plants I have to trade: canna indica purpurea canna indica canna Wyoming green elephant ear black stem elephant ear castor bean seedlings opuntia humifus (easter prickley pear) Opuntia engelmannii pink ice plant purple queen callisia fragrans cow tongue cactus strawberry plants pindo palm seedling Plants I am looking for: Araucaria araucana aka monkey puzzle tree Helianthus sunspots (variegated sunflower) alocasia macrorrhiza canna australia canna intigue canna pretoria (aka bengal tiger aka tropicanna gold) canna stuttgart canna tropicanna (aka phasion) colocasia black magic colocasia black runner colocasia esculenta 'black coral' colocasia esculenta 'diamond head' colocasia esculenta 'kona coffee colocasia thai giant cordyline torbay dazzler ensete hibiscus kopper king monkey puzzle tree musa ae ae musa siam ruby musa zebrina (blood banana) spanish moss staghorn summac (tiger eyes) thunbergera alata xanthosoma lime zinger im open for other trades also

Phlip, I acknowledge what you are saying but I'm still hoping that this Cordyline will survive. It's not so much impatience, as regret that I didn't start earlier. That's why I recently transplanted a 5m Phoenix canariensis! Probably saved me around 20 years. Zoew, you have an enviable growth rate over there in Wales! My growing season is so short. The transition from the big frosts (-10C) of winter to a hot dry summer happens within weeks. Most Cordylines around here are 10-14 yeras old if they are around 3-4m tall. Dougal, thanks for the advice. I did actually look for just such a neglected plant in a pot. No luck. Anyway, the move of the garden-grown specimen occurs this weekend. I'll keep people posted. Frank