Ti Plant Cordyline fruticosa Negra (Cordyline terminalis)

Negra carries broad strap shaped leaves in a burgundy so deep it reads as black in good light, held in a head on a slim upright cane that lifts as the plant ages. That darkness is the whole point of it. Designers use Negra as the anchor in a tropical planting, the note that stops a bed of bright green, lime and variegated foliage reading flat, and it does the same job in a large pot beside a pool or a shaded entry.

Warmth first, then light

This is Cordyline fruticosa, a genuinely tropical Pacific species, not the tough cabbage tree it gets shelved beside. The failure mode is cold. A frost blackens the foliage, a cold wet winter rots the cane at soil level, and a plant that has been happy all summer in a Melbourne, Canberra or Adelaide Hills garden bed will not be there in spring. South of the subtropics, grow it in a pot you can move under cover, into a warm courtyard or indoors near bright light for the winter, and bring it back out once nights warm up. Where warmth is not the problem, light sets the colour. Morning sun or bright filtered light keeps the burgundy at its richest, while deep shade dulls it towards a muddy green and stretches the cane between leaves. Soil wants to be rich, mulched and free draining, kept moist through the warm months and much drier over winter. All parts are toxic to dogs and cats if chewed.

Negra beside Rubra

The direct comparison is Cordyline fruticosa Rubra, the same species in a brighter burgundy red that catches light rather than absorbing it. Rubra reads as a colour from across a garden; Negra reads as a shadow, and against dark timber or a charcoal wall it can disappear altogether, so give it a pale background, a light gravel or bright foliage around it. Use Negra where a planting is already busy with colour and needs weight; use Rubra where the plant itself has to be the point of interest. If the site is frosty and the plant must stay in the ground year round, neither belongs there and Red Star is the hardy substitute, though it is spikier and much narrower in the leaf.

Cutting back, feeding and pests

Cut leggy canes back hard in late spring or early summer, once nights are warm, and the stump reshoots from lower down while the offcuts strike easily in a pot of damp mix. Do not prune heading into winter, when cut canes sit wet and rot. Feed monthly through the warm months with a liquid fertiliser, or apply a slow release fertiliser in spring and again in midsummer, then stop once growth slows in autumn. Check the leaf axils regularly for mealybug and scale, which hide down where the leaf wraps the cane. More in tropical plants.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 4 sizes, from 125mm up to 300mm, priced from $16.95 to $88.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to low water gardens.