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Cordyline australis 'Torbay Dazzler' (Torbay Dazzler Grass Palm) - This is a palm-like, sub-tropical tree grows with an upright habit and with age will branch to produce several heads of green strap leaves that have a strong cream variegation along the leaf margins. Like the other colorful Cordyline australis cultivars this plant should grow to be a branched 10 to 20 foot tall by 5- to 10-foot-wide evergreen tree and produces large panicles of small, sweet-scented white flowers in late spring to summer.
Best grown in full coastal sun to light shade - some shade protection necessary in hotter inland gardens. It is drought tolerant in coastal gardens but responds well to occasional to regular irrigation. Useful in dry gardens but also offers a tropical look. It is a great container plant and can tolerate coastal conditions if protected from direct sea winds (Zone 2) . It is cold hardy to around 15° F, growing well in USDA zones 9-10 (and possibly warmer Zone 8 locations).
The species Cordyline australis is a tall tree endemic to New Zealand where it grows from the far northerly subtropical areas of the North Island to the chilly southern areas of the South Island. It is typically found in forest margins, riverbanks and open places, and is also abundant in wet swampy area. The name Cordyline comes from the Greek word kordyle, meaning "club," a reference to the enlarged underground stems or rhizomes and the specific epithet is the Latin word for "southern" as in southern hemisphere.
The 'Torbay Dazzler' cultivar came from Torbay Palm Farm from near Cornwall, England and was a Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit winner in 2004. This plant looks to be fairly similar to the variegated cultivar Cordyline australis 'Albertii' but lacks the faint red margin of this later plant and is also reportedly more compact, a good thing as an old plant of Cordyline australis 'Albertii', planted in 1988 in our nursery garden, is now over 30 feet tall. San Marcos Growers first received 'Torbay Dazzler' in 2003 and we have grown and sold this very fine cultivar ever since.
This information about Cordyline australis 'Torbay Dazzler' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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