My poor palm tree

[attachment=2579][attachment=2580]Good afternoon

I have had this palm tree in my garden for about 10 - 15 years...all was well until the snow and ice in December.

Recently the tree ( I think its St Stephens palm?? ) has started shedding leaves..

it is now a sorry site....is it dead ? or is this a normal thing the tree does every 10 or so years
Not happy as it was/is my fav tree.

any ideas?

 

Its Cordyline australis, I have some of similar age, two look very much like yours and two are OK.

With mine I have the feeling they actually died last winter and lived on through last summer on the sap left in the stems.
Mine flowered profusely last summer, but its not been cold enough here this winter to have killed them.

I've cut the tops off mine and will wait to see where they sprout during the spring as I doubt they are totally dead.

 

When you say cut the tops off....can you explain a bit more please...how much do I cut off? and to where?

Do you mean cut it back so there are no leaves? so just the trunk is left?

Sorry to sound.."thick"

Mine flowered very well last summer

We had temperatures to about -15 C this December

 

I've cut mine back to just below the leaves, idea being it stops them causing a problem to everybody keep falling all over the place.

I'm then going to wait till mid summer to see if and where any new shoots appear.

At that time I will cut back to just above the new growth.

If they should be dead right down to the ground I think we should get new shoots from under the ground.

 

My next door neighbours tree, same type, looks even worse. All the leaves and greenery has fallen to the floor, it's just a thick stick in the ground now. I had heard it was because they don't like snow or lots of rain and we had both over winter.

 

These are tropical trees we are talking about. I'm not surprised it's because of the snow and probably ice they have had to encounter.

I'm sure you all know you don't live in the tropics ....

 

We have these cordylines all round the island and they are shedding leaves all the time. In fact people are getting rid of them because they make such a mess. I'd leave the tree alone for the time being and see if it picks up later in the year.

 

Take any loose leaves off the plant, but leave the stem alone, it MAY reshoot from the top or the base of the plant. Keep your fingers crossed and hope.

 

Not really tropical, they come from New Zealand, and as such tend to like a mild climate, with a few degrees of frost not being a problem.
I've lost two of mine that started out in 1987, thats the last time frost cut them to the ground.

One that is nearly as large but grown from different seed seems unaffected.

So the green leaved ones tend to be quite frost resistant, but below minus 10, or extended frost is likely to kill off the top growth.
I've never found them to have problems in wet winters or snowy ones, I think its all about temperature.

If an established plant doesn't reshoot, I would be very surprised

 

Thanks People

I will cut it back next weekend and HOPE