Page 1 of 2

'Karo Kiri'

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 5:32 pm
by Ade Shattock
Anyone one else been tempted by the odd looking Cordyline Australis 'Karo Kiri' ?
I looked at them last year but left them on the shelves but today one came back home with me, maybe it was just the need to buy something, Im not sure.
Im not sure either what I am going to do with a dwarf Cordyline, maybe I'll need another two of different heights to make a display in a pot, maybe I'll just plant it and see what happens.
I'll try to get a picture up tomorrow.

Re: 'Karo Kiri'

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:32 am
by BrunoCork
Hi Ade, I struggle with this one but have managed to keep it alive for the last few years. The stem rots so easily in Cork's wet winters, but mine has resprouted from the base...twice! I now have it planted at the base of of a wall in a raised, free draining gravelly bed with borderline hardy succulents for neighbors and it came through this past winter unharmed. The downside to this is the soil is so poor that it grows very slowly.

Re: 'Karo Kiri'

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:44 am
by Ade Shattock
Thats interesting Bruno, perhaps its one best grown in a pot for me then.
Its a bit of a funny one to place in the garden but Im sure I'll find somewhere for it.

Re: 'Karo Kiri'

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 11:57 am
by Chrisg
May work well in a dry bed. Very quirky looking.

Have they been around for long?

Re: 'Karo Kiri'

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 12:47 pm
by Taffy
Chrisg wrote:May work well in a dry bed. Very quirky looking.

Have they been around for long?
"The Range" have started selling them for the first time this year.....£20 (ish)

Re: 'Karo Kiri'

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 4:55 pm
by Ade Shattock
The first time I saw them was last year.
£3.00 and £6.00 a piece at Brambridge Garden Centre and £13.00 at The Range

Re: 'Karo Kiri'

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 5:32 pm
by BrunoCork
I first saw them for sale here about 5 years ago.

Re: 'Karo Kiri'

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:40 pm
by Chrisg
BrunoCork wrote:I first saw them for sale here about 5 years ago.
Strange that they have been around for a while, but not attracted much attention.

Re: 'Karo Kiri'

Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 7:04 am
by BrunoCork
Chrisg wrote:
BrunoCork wrote:I first saw them for sale here about 5 years ago.
Strange that they have been around for a while, but not attracted much attention.
They've been in Ireland a few years as they were microproped and introduced by http://www.fitzgerald-nurseries.com/

http://www.myplant.ie/plant.php?id=34&t ... bbage+Tree

Re: 'Karo Kiri'

Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 8:31 pm
by David Matzdorf
It's an oddly proportioned thing. I wonder if it would look good planted as a grove of 5 or 7.

I never developed a great attraction for Pseudopanax ferox or P. crassifolius until I saw what Kiwi garden designer Jimmy Fraser did with them in a client's garden in South London: he planted them in wide-spaced groups of about 5, with feathery grasses between them. Brilliant.

This plant seems similarly constricted and sparse and thus prone to planting in groups to make a statement.