Flowering Again

Back in June 2010 the Cordyline australis, or Cabbage Palm in our garden, produced a spike of creamy, scented flowers. Just a few months later, the palm was killed by the severe winter weather and plunging temperatures of -13C leaving nothing but a decaying stump. Miraculously, the plant regrew, producing not the one stem we'd had until then, but FIVE of different heights.
Seven years later, the palm is still doing well and has at last produced another flower spike this year.

The scent from this flower spike has been drifting around the garden and when the back door is open, filling the kitchen too. It is not only popular with us either. The bees have been very glad of it as well.

Originating from New Zealand, the Cabbage Palm is actually a member of the Asparagus family and in the wild, can grow to enormous size. The biggest being about 56ft tall, some 400 to 500 years old and about 30ft in circumference at its base! It makes our seven year old specimen rather small, but no less a welcome addition to our garden. Lets hope we don't get another bad winter to kill it off again.