I bring my Cordylines inside as I have ample space and enjoy the red or purple/black foliage as contrast to so many green foliage plants. I have left one outside but it came back the following spring too slowly...it was just 12" and didn't put on that much growth this summer, whereas the ones wintered inside just took off immediately. My favorite, Alternanthera dentata "Purple Knight", will grow to 36 inches here and will do well inside in pot, hold it's color, even have small fuzzy insignificant white blooms under a lamp or on windowsill. It can be pruned back easily to branch more and form smaller stockier plant. I have a couple of other Alternanthera, no label, one has bright red leaves and another butgundy foliage but only grows to 15" or so. Same care applies. I often cut tall stems along with various large Coleus and Ipomoea batata "Marguerite" or "Blackie" to make a big "bouquet" in water. Rinsing and removing dying leaves is necessary for a week or so but easy and once roots start I have a "living bouquet" until spring...just keep topped up with water. In spring I don't try and plant whole plant with roots...I just make new cuttings and discard roots formed in water. The better the light the more vibrant the colors but sun isn't necessary, just a windowsill...at least here in AL. Even a tall lamp with 150 watt bulb will do. This method also works with Cordylines, by the way...I've cut tops off and put in large floor vase stabilized with black Japanese water stones...or in ceramic pot with just plain rocks. There again, I just make top cuttings in spring to root in soil...the roots formed in water don't adjust well to soil in my experience. I find it easier to grow in water than in a large pot and easier to top up wth water with no aggravation from too much water drainage into overflowing saucer or underwatering. (I have about 100 other plants to care for...LOL). Good luck. josh

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.

I have had them outside in pots for several years now. By the end of the winter, the leaves have all turned brown and most will pull away from the crown easily. The first year or two, this led me to believe they were dead, but being slow to replant pots in the spring, I have been pleasantly surprised to see that they came back. I have even divided them once. I know they are marginal, and even more so for you, but, as I said, they can surprise you. If I were you, I would leave them alone until it really warms up. Who knows? Maybe you've gotten lucky.

I copied the following from San Marcos Growers: Cordyline 'Cardinal' A smaller clump forming Cordyline that forms a rosette to 3 feet tall with glossy arching red leaves that first emerge narrow and widen with maturity. Plant in full sun (along coast) to shade and water regularly. Plant in full sun to part shade in a well drained soil with regular to occasional irrigation. The best foliage color will likely be in full to partial coastal sun to morning sun to shade inland. We have not had it outside for a cold winter but likely it will have a similar hardiness as other Cordyline hybrids and tolerate down to 20 F. A nice plant for containers or the front of a planting where the attractive red arching foliage can be emphasized. This plant, introduced by Ball Ornamentals, is thought to be an interspecific hybrid involving Cordyline australis and C. banksii, though it seems more solitary without the basal suckering habit seen in other hybrids involving C. banksii such as 'Renegade', 'Jurred' and 'Electric Pink' though has the arching, narrower and shinier leaf with a cupped clasping petiole that is typical of this hybrid cross. Hopefully it will also have the small fragrant pale purple flowers that the others hybrid Cordyline display in summer months. This plant is very similar if not the same as plants being sold as 'Crimson Star'