Cordyline Red Star

The cabbage palm is a New Zealand tree, known to Māori as tī kōuka, and Red Star is one of its best bronze-leaved forms. In Britain it became a seaside signature, so common along the Devon coast that the species picked up the nickname Torbay palm. The dark form adds a moodier note to that familiar outline.

Young plants are the tender ones, so give a new arrival its first couple of winters with fleece to hand for hard frosts. Once trunked and established it copes with far worse. Pull away browned lower leaves as they fade, which keeps the stem clean and the head looking sharp.