Death in Springtime

Things are springing to life in the garden, but it’s time to think about death. In amongst the new growth there are signs of death everywhere after a brutal winter. We thought we were badly hit last year, but this winter has been far worse. The biggest casualties have been the cordylines (Cordyline australis, sometimes known as the Torbay Palm).The victims have for the most part been the younger plants, those less than ten years old.

Most of the more mature ones seem to be OK and in fact we seem to have fared better than the rest of Grange, where even large ancient palms have been hit, especially along the promenade. But in fact it’s too soon to talk about death with these plants because there’s a good chance that they will regenerate from the base so that, all being well, what has been a rather plain single-stemmed palm will become a handsome multi-stemmed one.
The photo shows a healthy mature palm surrounded by stricken younger ones.