Uses of Green Cordyline australis, red star and varigated Cornish Cabbage Palm

Cordyline australis is an exotic plant, also known as ‘Torbay or Cornish Cabbage Palm’. This upright plant has dark green sword-like leaves and clusters of white scented flowers, bees’ magnet.

The dry brown leaves have a special use that many gardeners will love to know. This article shows you how to prepare and use the leaves as an alternative to artificial garden ropes.

Cordyline australis (Cornish Cabbage Plant) leaves are lovely garden ropes.

Uses of Cordyline australis leaves

Buy Cordyline australis ‘Cornish Cabbage’ plants at Crocus

This plant has long slender leaves. They are thin, flexible and strong. 

Plants with leaves like these are used successfully in traditional and survival settings for tying objects together.

If you have a Cordyline australis plant in the garden, you can use the leaf as an alternative to garden rope. 

Check out the 5 garden projects where the Cordyline australis leaves were used successfully as ropes. 

1. Tie garden and pot plants 

2. Tie bamboo garden trellis panels.

3. Make DIY Garden Planter Box without Nails

4. Make bamboo hoops and garden netting (image)

Use Cordyline australis ropes in the making of bamboo hoops and garden netting

How to prepare Cordyline australis leaves for garden rope

The long narrow leaves of Cordyline australis are perfect natural garden ropes. As shown in the garden projects, you can also use them to tie garden plants, flowers, new shoots and any garden plant that needs tying. Here is how to prepare the dry leaves to use as garden ropes.

• Collect the dry brown leaves.
• Soak them in water overnight.
• Strip each leaf into smaller (preferable) strands.
• Use the strands to tie plants.

To tie large objects, use a whole leaf or two. You can join the leaves together if you need a longer length. An example is this DIY Garden Planter Box, instead of nails we used only Cordyline australis leaves to build it.

Many people in the Pacific and Southeast Asia use the leaves from the palm trees, coconut and yacca plants and Cordyline fruticosa as ropes for tying plants. 

They also use the long green leaves for arts and crafts. However, the dry leaves are best for tying plants, flowers and shoots.

About Cordyline australis plant

Cordyline australis is evergreen and hardy shrub, commonly known as ‘Torbay or Cornish Cabbage Palm’. The Cornish Cabbage plant has long leaves and palm-like stems.

It produces a bunch of numerous tiny creamy white flowers in summer. You can keep an individual plant (or keep it lower) by pruning the old plants and encouraging a new single plant to take over.

This exotic shrub is perfect for landscaping, planted as a standalone plant or centrepiece. There are several cultivars of Cordyline australis ‘Cornish Cabbage Plants’, ranging from variegated leaves to green and burgundy red.

They are undemanding and low maintenance. The three common cultivars of Cordyline australis Cabbage plants are

• Green Cordyline australis,
• Cordyline australis red star and
• Variegated Cordyline australis 'Torbay Dazzler'.

See the full collection at Crocus 

Do you know a garden plant like Cordyline australis?

As mentioned earlier, the dry brown leaves of Cordyline australis (‘Cornish Cabbage Plant’) are fantastic alternatives to garden ropes.

We’ve used the leaves as garden ropes in many garden projects (as shown in the images).

Hope you can try the ropes out if you have a Cordyline australis, Cordyline fruticosa or Yacca plant growing in your garden.

Do you have a garden plant like the bamboo stems or Yacca, Cordyline australis or Cordyline fruticosa plants? We would love to hear from you. Let us know in the comments below.

Here is the YouTube video of the strawberries netting project where we use the Cordyline australis leaves as a garden rope.

How fast does a bamboo plant grow?

We measured the growth of the Phyllostachys Vivax (Golden Yellow Chinese Bamboo) in the garden last summer. We took the length it grew every day and worked out the average growth rate. It was an interesting finding.

How fast bamboo plants grow in the UK - measured.

The obvious advantage of growing bamboo plants is that they are fast-growing. You get the evergreen hedge or screen faster compared to the common hedge shrubs and plants. 

How fast bamboo grows in spring in the UK - YouTube video

How fast bamboo grow in summer in the UK - Video

How far do bamboo plants spread?

Always use the bamboo roots/rhizome barrier when growing the running bamboo plants. They are invasive. 

The rhizomes will spread to other parts of the garden if you do not have a barrier in place. We recommend putting in a root barrier before growing the running bamboo. 

Alternatively, grow bamboo in heavy-duty pots. The bamboo plants will start to spread in the first year of planting. In fact, the rhizomes are underground stems. The new (running) shoots growing above the ground indicate that new rhizomes are also growing underground. 

The growth is prominent after 5 years. That means that bamboo can stay inactive underground until the condition is right for them to put out new shoots. 

So, the running bamboo plants will spread after you’ve planted them or remain inactive until the condition is right. Either way, always use a bamboo barrier when growing the running bamboo.

  Building a bamboo root barrier

How long does a bamboo plant last?

Generally, how long a bamboo plant lasts pretty much depends on the kind of bamboo. There are about 800 different cultivars of running and clumping bamboo plants that thrive in the UK and US.

However, worldwide there are about 1500 species of bamboo plants. Above all, there are two important factors that contribute to the longevity of bamboo plants. 

The ‘growth behaviour of the new bamboo shoots’ and ‘the regenerative behaviour of the bamboo grove’. The two growth behaviours make bamboo plants sustainable. You can grow and enjoy for as long as you want.

Where to buy bamboo plants?

Bamboo plants come in pots. You can remove the plants in the pot and grow them in the garden. If you want to get more plants from a pot, read about how to separate the bamboo plants. Some bamboo plants are running whereas others are clumping. 

Before buying a bamboo plant, decide what type of bamboo you want to grow - running or clumping? 

Here are some renowned UK retailers where you can get your bamboo plants and supplies.

Knowing how fast bamboo grows and how far it can spread will help you to maintain your bamboo plants. Check out the 'blue' links to the Garden Bamboo Plants website and YouTube channel for more information on bamboo care.

Maintain bamboo plants: what you need to know about water, soil and mulch

Bamboo water uptake requirement differs slightly from plant to plant. An established bamboo plant requires less water than the new plants, not the other way around. 

How often should I water my bamboo plants?

Understandably, new bamboo plants will require moist and well-drained soil to establish themselves, whereas the old plants will tolerate dry soils. If your bamboo plants are growing in fertile and well-aerated soil, you do not have to worry about giving water regularly, unless (of course) it’s very dry. 

Here is a guide to the best soil for growing new bamboo plants.

Bamboo plants do not like dry, compacted soil

A well-established garden bamboo can thrive without water for months. Yet, bamboo plants that grow on compacted soils, such as the building sites, will require more water than those growing on loose soil.

Water any new plants and those growing on compacted soil regularly. Keep the soil moist but not waterlogged. 

Though the roots, called rhizomes, do not run deep into the soil, they will tolerate dry soil but do not like compacted soil. 

A combination of hard and compacted soil is not ideal for bamboo plants. The bamboo rhizomes will struggle to survive in compacted soil.

How often should I add mulch to my bamboo plants?

One of the important things that you can do when attending to bamboo is to add mulch to it. As mentioned, the bamboo plants are low maintenance, yet they’ll benefit from the water and mulch. Add mulch once a year. 

The best time to add mulch is at the end of autumn or the beginning of spring.

If you are expecting a very cold winter, then add it at the end of autumn. This is an ideal time because you can rake the fallen leaves onto the bamboo grove, which will keep the soil reasonable warm. 

Also, if you want new shoots to grow and give you a thick hedge or screen, add mulch to the bamboo late in spring. 

Take a look at this YouTube video of how we added mulch in spring. The results were stunning. We got lots of new shoots in summer, see the image below.

All in all, maintain your bamboo plants and enjoy them for many years. If bamboo plants turn yellow, attend to them immediately. It can be hard to revive them when the leaves turn yellow and start falling off the stems.

Bamboo Plants Care - Do Bamboos Grow in Shade

Bamboo plants are undemanding and low maintenance, but neglect is the main cause of yellowing or curling leaves. This stress can result in losing your plants. In this article, you will find out How to maintain bamboo plants and revive them if the leaves turn yellow.

When working in the bamboo garden, you'll need these hand tools.

Care for bamboo plants

Bamboo plants are undemanding and low maintenance. They do not need much attention all year round, but they’ll appreciate a bit of mulch and water once in a while. 

The best time to attend to your bamboo plants is early in spring when the growth is prominent. 5 maintenance tasks you can do to care for your bamboo plants are:

• Add mulch
• Remove the old stems
• Prune the old branches
• Add slug pallets to protect new shoots

If you have not built a bamboo barrier, check out the article which is packed full of practical tips for building and maintaining bamboo root barriers.

   Build a bamboo root barrier

When is the best time to maintain bamboo plants?

Bamboos are hardy plants. They like to rest in autumn and winter. The best time to maintain your bamboo plants is late spring. This is when there is a lot of activity under the ground. 

Prune the plants by removing the dead branches and stems. Add mulch to the grove. That’s all you can do. Your efforts will be rewarded early in summer with lots of new shoots and a vibrant bamboo grove.

How to revive bamboo leaves turning yellow or curl?

The leaves of the bamboo plants are a good indicator of the plants’ health. The leaves will show signs of stress if they are not happy by turning yellow or curling. 

Quick actions will stop the plants from dying completely. The main causes of stress in bamboo plants are lack of nutrients in the soil or waterlogged soils. 

Others include temperature variation and insect and dust infestations. Here is a detailed article on how to revive bamboo leaves yellowing or curling.

What bamboo plants grow in shade?

This is a question that we see appear many times in chats and forums. There is no need to worry about shade because most bamboo plants are shade tolerant. Though some bamboo plants prefer 5 – 7 hours of light, most bamboo plants will thrive in shade and part shade. 

As a general rule, you should plant the variegated, black bamboo, golden yellow bamboo, red bamboo and other coloured bamboo plants in sites where there is enough direct to indirect light. The colours are often more prolific in the light than in the shade.

Yet, the variegated and coloured bamboo plants will still do well in shade to part shade.

Here is an example of bamboo plants used effectively as undercover plants at Bleinheim Palace, Oxford, UK.

Watch the video of the Secret Garden at the palace on YouTube.