Sunday, January 6, 2008

Unfinished business re: Cordyline fruticosa 'Kiwi' flowers

So I posted about this about three weeks ago, and frankly, I didn't figure we'd get to the end of the story because I thought the plant would probably sell before I saw the flowers do much more. This is one of the frustrations of working with plants in retail: the Ficus maclellandii that grew figs has sold, so I can't follow their development. All of the Ludisia discolor with buds sold right before Christmas, so it looks like I'm never going to get to see what the flowers look like. Etc.

But in this case, we do have follow-up events to report. It's actually a bit prettier than I was expecting. The original picture was from 9 December:



By 17 December, it had progressed to this:



And then on 4 January, we had this:



So now you can say you know what a Cordyline fruticosa flower spike looks like. I think it's nice. Not so nice that people are going to start growing them for the flowers instead of the foliage, but still. The big question remaining is, are the flowers self-fertile, and will there be seeds? I'm thinking probably not, but it doesn't hurt to be hopeful.


5 comments:

Wicked Gardener said...

Hello! Just wanted to let you know that you have a new reader. Your rating system is gloriously nerdy - and handy too! I look forward to your future posts!

mr_subjunctive said...

Nicely met. I've added a link to your blog in my sidebar. Everybody say hey to Wicked Gardener.

Tracy said...

Is this the same plant known as a Ti plant? The flowers are really unique. Even when flowers are not flashy, it is still something amazing to a plant go into flower.

Tracy said...

Oh, and HEY, wicked gardener!!

mr_subjunctive said...

Yeah, it's a ti plant, though a smallish cultivar: I think traditionally, ti plants have bigger leaves than 'Kiwi' does.