How long has it been in the ground and how do you protect?

I planted several spikes around a pine tree a couple years ago thinking id have a nice bushyground cover like large grass. Now i have dracena trees growing. It looks a bit odd and could get worse but i tried to transplant some pups and they didn't do so well so Im afraid to attempt to move the dracena trees.

I've been growing it for probably 5/6 years from a small nursery annual in 4" pot, and been inground for 3 summers.

These things have very vigorous root systems, so transplant might be difficult. But they are very cold hardy, usually survive here in ground well into December. For such an inexpensive plant, I'm happy with its performance and appearance.

I protect it the same way as my trachys, Christmas lights, insulation, and a plastic covering.

The plant commonly sold as spike or dracena is actually cordyline australis. There is agrees, purple, and variegated variety. I have 4 in ground that have survived the past few years. In zone 7a they tolerate the cold but not moisture. The purple ones are less hardy. It eventually grows into a large tree.

my two year old purple cordyline

these cordylines have been in the ground for three years.

this is one going into its second winter. It was never protected and it was a pup from one of the other ones

This one is unique. I look for these brown cordylines among the green ones in big box stores. I suspect it is a hybrid of a green and purple cordyline. It has thin leaves like a green cordyline. It is stunted because of alot of root competition from the palm and a casterbean that was in that bead during the summer.

How did u get the pup to survive?

yes it transplanted fine and survived one winter. The pup had some Roots already when i cut it off the mother plant and i treated it with rooting hormone.

This one has come back from the roots 4 years now,the
past winter it kept it's center spear and kept growing.

Does anyone know if the purple ones are as vigorous or grow as fast as the green ones?

For me the purple ones grow faster than the green but are less hardy

Great cordylines everyone!
As far as virgorousness goes, I agree the red ones seem to be a little bit faster growing, but the cold tolerance of the green ones are hard to beat and definitely makes up for the slightly slower growth!
-Alex