Have I made a mistake planting a cordyline australis in our small front garden?

sb44

My MIL gave me some tiny cordyline austalis plants that she had grown from seed. She planted quite a few seeds thinking some would die off but all of them germinated and grew!

I have them all in Morrisons flower buckets except the one that I put in the front garden. I wrongly thought that they were just palm like plants that prob grew to about 4' talll so planted one about 10' away from the house, halfway between the house and front fence.

I have just seen that cordyline austalis can grow up to 30' tall! :eek: That is way too big for our garden.

It has been in the garden for about 6 weeks and is about 2' tall.

Should I pull it up and stick it in a builders bucket for now then transfer to a larger pot once the roots have filled the bucket?

I also transferred a red cordyline froml a pot to the garden, this was from Wilkinsons, I think it is a Red Star, would that one be ok left in the garden?
It is about 12' away from the house.

Ta.

Leif

They are common in South Devon. My late mother had one in the small front garden, it was no more than 3m tall, maybe less, and it had been there quite a few years.

mandragora_2

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=543

Funky_Bold_Ribena

You could dig it up, stick it in the compost and put something nice in there instead.

Leif

I think they are nice!

Do you know the cultivar? That would tell you the mature height of yours.

Ash_McCloud

Saw the trunk off as close to ground level as you can if/when it gets too big for the garden and it'll sprout new growth.

theoretica

If you like it I would leave it there until it grows too big and then prune it. It will probably be just fine for years - or die overwinter!

sb44

I was a bit worried about the roots if it is only about 12' from the house.

sb44

Well, I have just lifted it out the garden and potted it into a Morrisons flower bucket for now.

I was a bit worried that if I left it the roots would take hold and I would have a job taking it out if I left it too long.

The root ball wasn't as big as I thought it would be so it was an easy job.

I am going to leave the Red Star one in the garden as they don't appear to grow very tall.