Mini Cordylines for Australian Gardens

Mini cordylines are smaller, more compact cordylines with dense foliage and an upright growth habit, generally staying under 1.5 metres. Their compact size makes them ideal as an edging plant, mass planted along a border, in courtyard gardens, or in pots.

They offer fantastic versatility in landscaping and beautifully colourful foliage for flower arrangements. They’re generally vigorous and robust, with a great selection available for both full sun and part shade.

The rise of tissue culture propagation and megawholesale nurseries has had a negative impact on the varieties available to home gardeners — most retail nurseries and the big hardware chains stock plants bred for “pot impact,” passing trends, and temperate climates, rather than longevity or long-term desirability in a tropical or subtropical garden. That leaves a large range of genuinely good mini cordylines difficult to find.

At El Arish Tropical Exotics we grow a wide selection because we simply love them. Below are some of our favourites for landscaping.

Full Sun Minis: The Compacta Family

A surprisingly high number of mini cordylines do well in full sun, and some of the toughest come from the compacta family.

• Cordyline compacta — a dense, tight plant with deep purple leaves that turn eggplant-black in full sun.
• Cameroon — equally tough and vigorous, similar in size, shape and growth habit to compacta, with more chocolate colouring and leaves edged in lime green. A great all-rounder with year-round colour.
• Moonlight — a compacta sport with yellowish-brown to silvery-plum leaves.
• Gold Edge — similar to Cameroon, with a thick, bright yellow leaf edge.
• Bronze and Lime — a sport from Cameroon, with lime green leaves and coffee-coloured markings. Not quite as robust in growth as its parent plant.
• Chocolate Swirl — attractive leaf variegation, but prefers a little protection from afternoon sun.

Cameroon and compacta are both also grown commercially as cut-flower foliage, lasting for weeks in arrangements.

Fast Growers with Strong Colour

• Amanda’s Blush — a mini developed in tissue culture with beautiful variegation. Base colour is dark red, with leaves edged and variegated in pink. A standout when mass planted. Prefers very good drainage and a well-lit position with some protection from hot afternoon sun.
• Suzi’s Choice — a striking mini with deep flushes of pink on full, juno-shaped leaves. A strong, consistent grower — best colour is achieved in the cooler months. (One of our own favourites — we absolutely love this one.)
• Kauai Beauty Mini — deep bronze-green leaves, with new growth flushing red in cooler months. Like Suzi’s Choice, a strong, consistent landscaping performer.
• Malia — always shows strong pink colour, even in full sun.

Hawaiian-Bred Minis

Many of the great mini cordylines available in Australia — like so many world-class cordylines generally — were bred in Hawaii. Along with Kauai Beauty Mini, other excellent choices for tropical landscaping include:

• Maui Silva
• Hawaiian Girl
• Miss Hawaii
• Kalani Koa
• Mini Mauna Kea Juno
• Green Jade
• Haole Top
• Haole Bronze

In-Between Minis

Between true minis and standard-size cordylines sits a group that can go either way in the garden.

• Tutu and Daintree Delight are still considered minis but sit slightly larger than the average.
• Vanuatu, Jamie Boy, Robin’s Red Breast, Holiday Inn, Kauai Rose, Aussie Delite and several others share this compact-but-not-tiny size.
• Firecracker is a strong grower with beautiful colour, also worth a mention here.

These in-betweenies are perfect for smaller spaces or dense plantings, and can help give the illusion of a garden being larger than it actually is.

Getting the Best from Mini Cordylines

A mini cordyline isn’t necessarily a small grower left entirely to its own devices — it’s generally best to prune the tops occasionally to encourage a bushy shape. The tops make good propagation material, or foliage for flower arrangements; a grouping of mini tops can make a stunning table arrangement on its own.

Mini cordylines are easy to grow in rich, well-drained soil. Fertilise regularly with Seasol and mulch well, and with a little TLC they’ll give you year-round colour and texture in the garden.

Shop Mini Cordylines

You’ll find our full in-stock selection in our [Cordylines category], along with a number of [cordyline bulk buys] for anyone mass planting on a budget.

Happy gardening!

Ann

[Internal linking note: link each bolded variety name to its product page once live, where stocked. Link “Cordylines category” and “cordyline bulk buys” to the relevant shop pages. Consider linking to the budget/mass-planting guide from the In-Between Minis section, since it echoes that theme directly.]