The Half-acre Project: Cabbage-palm

New Zealand Cabbage Palm (Cordyline australis)

Lately, birds have been swarming over our two New Zealand Cabbage-palms (Cordyline australis), stripping them of their multitudinous berries. The picture on the right shows of those trees this past April, with last year's flower spikes still hanging, dead and stripped of berries. You can clearly see how they got their common name; they do look a bit palm-like. However, they're not related to palms, or to cabbages. They're actually members of the asparagus family. The genus Cordyline is widespread in the southern hemisphere, but the species itself is native only to New Zealand. It's a popular introduction in the UK, often planted in cities and coastal areas, according to the Royal Horticultural Society's website. They can grow to about 20m (65') in height, though I don't think those in the UK get anywhere near that big. Ours are 4.5m (15') and 6m (20'), so still have some potential growing to do.

We hadn't anticipated their wildlife value when we first moved in. Mike thought that they — like much of the rest of the garden — had been planted for their ornamental appeal alone. But the flowers attract hordes of insects in the spring, and the berries are clearly favourites with our local birds and passing migrants. Check out the pictures below of some of the species we've spotted enjoying them. Sorry that some of the pictures are so dark; our weather here has been decidedly gloomy this autumn!