PlantSowGrow
How to plant and care for Cordyline (Cabbage Palm)
Cordyline australis
🌸 Flower
🔁 Perennial
Spiky, palm-like tufts of long leaves on a slowly forming trunk — instant exotic drama in a pot or a sheltered garden.
Growing Cordyline (Cabbage Palm): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water well for the first summer, then in dry spells
- Soil
- Well-drained soil
- Spacing
- 1.5 m
- Height
- 2–3 m (slow)
- In pots
- Grows well in containers
- Feeding
- Balanced feed in spring
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 8–11
Step by step
- On planting day
Plant
Plant at the same depth as it was in its pot, 1.5 m apart, and firm in.
- 0–1 days after “Plant”
Water In Well
Give a full can of water, then keep moist for the first few weeks while roots establish.
- 7–14 days after “Water In Well”
Mulch Around the Base
Spread 5 cm of compost or bark around the plant, keeping it off the stems.
Every year
- AprilPull Off Dead Leaves
Pull away the old, brown lower leaves.
- NovemberWinter Protection
In cold areas, tie the leaves together loosely and wrap the crown in fleece to protect the growing point.
