Earlier this spring I fell for a common Yucca, after briefly thinking I had stumbled upon a display of Agaves. This time around it was color that grabbed me as I walked by, just look…
Well, that picture doesn’t really relate to what I’m seeing, nor does the name “cherry sensation™.” Because I’m silly this way I pull out the iPad and do a little research. Everything I find for Cordyline austalis “cherry sensation™”points to bright reddish pink leaves, like on the tag. I can’t find a single photo that looks like the plants in front of me.
The problem is I want the plant I’m seeing!
Did I buy it? No. At $9.95, only hardy to 20 degrees and most likely to lose exactly the qualities which drew me to it in the first place I walked away. Damn, it was fun while it lasted.
Cordylines have the most amazing colors. I have a few I found on sale at the big box store and couldn't pass up.
ReplyDeleteI also find some great plants at the most unlikely places.
And you know I'm kicking myself for not getting it. I've already found the perfect place for it in the garden...
DeleteOn an unrelated matter (because I have no other way of letting you know), I discovered this morning 4 (count them - 4!) large flower buds on one of my Melianthus. I never thought I would see a Melianthus flower here in Portland. I was dancing around the yard this morning (in PJs) with excitement. I have a great picture of it, but sadly I don't know how to send it to you - assuming you want to see this miracle.
ReplyDeleteWell you know I do! (and now I'm really wishing I hadn't cut back my Melianthis last fall). My email address is on my profile page, the link is toward the top of the right hand column. Below the search box and above the archive list. Next to the picture of the pug in protective eyewear....
Deletethat is a definite heart breaker of a plant. Beautiful! Console yourself by remembering how it will let you down. It will change color, and melt... And then of course there is the side of us all that remembers the days when cordylines and phormiums were hardy and it screams BUY IT!!! it reminds me somewhat of phormium "jester" which stops me everytime I'm at a nursery. NZ plants have a way of waging psychological warfare on me.
ReplyDeleteYes it does look very much like P. 'jester' which is indeed a very beautiful plant...and don't even get me started about the 6ft+ Cordy trees I used to have in my front garden...*sigh*
DeleteThat little beauty is packed with temptation!
ReplyDeleteHaha, well put!
DeleteI've totally almost bought that plant, too. Sadly I don't have the discipline to bring plants in for the winter like you do. So pretty!
ReplyDeleteThere are those I bring in, those I cover, and those I just let deal. If this plant reverted to that obnoxious cherry color it might not even make it til winter!
DeleteI don't know, Loree. Only $10 for a good 6 months of enjoyment? Sounds like a bargain to me, much better than a meal out that you'll forget about as soon as you eat it. Go for it, enjoy it as an annual, and anyway it may surprise you!
ReplyDeleteI would totally spend the $10 if I thought it would maintain that color...using exactly the rationale that you just did! (great minds)
DeleteI love multi-colored cordylines, too, but in our hot summers, their colors invariably turn into a hideous greenish or pinkish mess. I've tried several and the results have always been disappointing. On the other hand, the two green ones we have (the "species," I guess) are doing great.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could say the same. Although I guess I they have come back from the roots, and didn't die back last winter so might get quite big this year.
DeleteOh yes...the temptation is great! I was at PDX Nursery this past weekend...you know, torturing myself with plants I don't have room for, when I spotted some Muhlenbergia rigens. I picked it up....put it down and repeated that sequence about 5 times. Eventually, I left without it...but spent the entire weekend pacing the gardens, trying to figure out what I could move (or delete) to make room for it. No success, so far, but I'm not giving up yet ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou are the most disciplined plant buyer/gardener I know. And to think you actually encouraged me to by lil'Sanford at the HPSO sale! (not that I regret it)
DeleteI hate to buck the trend I'm reading in these comments, but I've never really liked cordylines. Maybe it's the varieties I'm exposed to here in the midwest, but I think there's something about the form of the plant I just don't like. Same thing with ornamental millets. Just don't like them. Sorry cordyline lovers!
ReplyDeleteThere is always one in every crowd...(kidding). I know what you mean though, sometimes their straight stick trunk and crazy mop of leaves just looks silly. Sometimes.
DeleteI used to not like Cordylines but now I am finding some of them intriguing.
ReplyDeleteAnyway you are better off not buying that one. It was probably only that color because it had been sitting in the back of a dark truck for too long.
Thank you! That is exactly what I suspected.
DeleteHi Loree, it's a lovely plant but most of these new coloured varieties of cordylines coming out are prone to bleaching/losing their colours in time, as well as rotting at the base of the trunk if not perfectly happy with the drainage. They make great annual, bedding plants though!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the "discouragement" it was running pretty strongly in favor of my going back until the last few comments!
DeleteHi Loree, I do that same dance with pretty, leafy lovelies that are the best fit for our growing zones. I keep telling myself that I'll make room in some pot or another for them, but it never happens. sigh. Cheers, Jenni
ReplyDeleteSo you buy them but then don't find them a home?
DeleteI grew up in Plymouth, Devon in the 70s and Cordylines were endemic there. I think that I took them for granted to be honest and it was only when I moved away that I realised that they did not grow everywhere.
ReplyDeleteAs noted above by other posters these coloured ones are new and I think that I like my Cordies old skool, so I prefer the green ones.
On a side note there are very few Cordylines growing up in most of Scotland because we experience a Cordyline killing winter too frequently. However, some of the biggest growing Cordylines are to be found in Logan Botanic Gardens right down in the south west of Scotland. I visited there a couple of years ago and it is a lovely place with some pretty impressive sub-tropical plants.
Familiarity breeds contempt? (or at least complacency)
DeleteI love the really big tall ones, they look quite palmish but with long strappy leaves!
You really should go back and get it, since you actually have a perfect spot already in mind for it in your garden (so unlike most of the time when I buy a plant with no clue where to put it). Although I have to admit, I have done the same thing, seen a plant at the nursery or the big box store, found it doesn't actually match what it shows on the tag, and put it back. Or, more often, I've found things stuck in with the hardy perennials, and after reading the tag, discovered it's only hardy to 30 degrees...
ReplyDeleteOh yes the bait and switch (intentional or otherwise) with hardiness. I love how often that happens!
DeleteJust go back and get it and consider it a lesson in the school of gardening. Either it will become solid red or stay like it is. Easy for me to say, right? It's not my money. :)
ReplyDeleteYou could send me a donation of $10 and then it would be your money...you know if you wanted to...
DeleteEvery plant I don't buy can become someone else's, maybe in a better situation or maybe not. Restraint, oh dangerous one...
ReplyDeleteWow...remind me to not ever go plant shopping with you! (hehe)
DeleteCouldn't agree more.....that pink/green look is the one I would want also.
ReplyDeleteYes! Who needs garish colors like the cherry red one in your garden?
DeleteThis was a case where your restraint seems well calculated. I bet if that pretty plant had turned bright red after going home with you, it would have been shown the door in a hurry.
ReplyDeleteCordyline australis Pink Dazzler
ReplyDeleteI am probably the biggest cordyline geek in the PNW. And I can tell you with out a doubt that is...Cordyline Cha Cha...and that is it normal coloration with new growth being orange copper fading to yellow and green stripes.
ReplyDeleteIt is a draft variety only growing 3'tall and suckers a lot. Hardiness with protection 8b.
I too was sucker into buying some along with a few other that were label as cherry sensation. Lucky for me, I love them and now have 40+ cordylines in the ground all were planted in the last three years.
Hope that was helpful.
It is Cordyline "Cha Cha", for sure. That is a great price at $10. I don't know why they stick the wrong labels on different varieties, but it happens a lot. I bought a "Red Sensation" that was purple, and a "purple Sensation" that was red (from different stores). They grow great here in San Diego.
ReplyDelete