Cordyline fruticosa Hilo Rainbow

Rose pink dominates the broad leaves of Hilo Rainbow, with dark green and burgundy running through them and pink picking out the edges and midrib. The plant grows upright and fairly narrow, so it suits large pots on balconies and courtyards as well as garden beds, and it fits where floor space is short: a pair of pots on a front step, the corner of a small courtyard, or a mixed container with trailing plants around its base. That much pink reads from across a courtyard, while the green and burgundy detail shows up close.

Living in a pot

Pots are where it is most often grown, and pot conditions are where it most often fails. Use a free draining potting mix rather than garden soil and a container with proper drainage holes, and on a balcony or tiled courtyard stand it on pot feet or a slatted stand so the base is not sitting on hot paving in summer or cold, wet tiles in winter. Check the mix with a finger before watering, and water only when it is dry to the second knuckle. In a hot spell that can mean every second day for a pot in the open, and in winter as little as once a fortnight. A dark pot in afternoon sun can cook the roots, so choose a pale or glazed one if the spot is exposed. Repot every two or three years in spring, going up one size. Our guide to growing in pots covers mix and pot size in more detail.

Light is the other half. Check where the pot sits on a January afternoon. If it is in hot sun then, the pale parts of the leaf scorch; if it only ever sees reflected light, the pink fades back into the green. Morning sun on a balcony is the spot to look for. It is frost tender, so outside the warm coastal subtropics move the pot under cover for winter, keeping it somewhere bright. A puppy or a cat that chews leaves will find a pot on the ground easily, and Cordyline fruticosa is toxic to dogs and cats.

Three pinks, three jobs

For a soft screen of colour in a garden bed, Pink Diamond Cordyline, banded cream, green and hot pink, is the one to mass at close spacing. Cordyline fruticosa John Klass is the paler, softer choice, its cream and green leaf rimmed in hot pink. Hilo Rainbow, carrying more rose and burgundy, is the one for the pot you walk past every day. Grouped with other foliage in containers, it needs quiet neighbours, a fern or a silver leaved plant, so its markings have room to show. The Cordyline collection has the whole range side by side.

Feeding and trimming

Feed lightly and often from spring to early autumn, with a weak liquid feed each fortnight or a slow release one in spring, because potted plants run through their nutrients faster than garden plants and a hungry ti plant makes small, dull leaves. Leave it unfed over winter. Pinch off lower leaves as they yellow to keep the pot tidy. When the plant eventually gets tall for its pot, shorten the cane in summer; the stump sprouts again and usually carries more than one head of leaves afterwards, a bushier shape for a pot.

Choosing a size

This plant is supplied in one size, 300mm, at $92.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to low water gardens.