Toii growing in the Eco Forest
The broad-leaved or mountain cabbage tree, also known as toii or Cordyline indivisa, is the best cabbage tree to plant to create a touch of drama in the garden, a conversation point for those who have never seen it growing in the wild. You have to be fit to see it in its natural habitat, which is over 450 metres up a hill or mountain. Even then it has to be the right hill or mountain, for where the bush has been been cleared, and/or stock have access to it, you will not see this interesting tree. Sadly, it is therefore almost entirely absent from the hilltops above me on Banks Peninsula, except where it is being nurtured in reserves like Hinewai.
If you live in or are visiting Wellington, however, you don't have to go very far from the city to see toii in the (semi) wild. The popular walk up Mt Climie on the edge of the Rimutaka Range, close to State Highway 2, provides great views from the top and also lots of close-up encounters with toii trees alongside the track.
Luckily for those of us who spend most of our time at sea level, and garden there as well, the toii does not mind joining us there. One planted in our little valley-floor forest in Port Levy has grown to over two metres tall in six or seven years, and may one day reach the optimum height for this species of eight metres. It has not flowered yet, and that is something to look forward to, as the flowers cluster in much thicker, tighter bunches than the common cabbage tree, C. australis. Even without flowers, however, toii is a handsome and distinctive tree, and with its slow-growing and compact habit, it is ideal for small gardens.
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