PlantFiles: New Zealand Flax
Phormium tenax

Another brilliant wind resister and an incredibly easy one to divide for planting elsewhere in your windbreak, just get that shovel in and split it at the base.

Very unfussy and a versatile addition to a tropical or exotic planting, we have it bordering a large Gunnera Manicata for contrast. Also makes a very good string tie around the garden, just tear a strip off a healthy leaf - you won't be able to snap it easily with your hands!

Do keep an eye on them if you have a mature clump on top of a ledge, they do grow fairly dense and sometimes prone to collapse if the soil is too thin or they receive a strong gust from the opposite direction to the prevailing winds. Again, just a case of dividing anything that looks too big.

New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax) is ideally suited to growing on seacliffs, in a natural setting, or as a filler in a large area. This flax has been here apparently for millions of years, and used to be grown and milled for its good fibre. It is still used today for Maori weaving.

Grows very well here in the San Francisco Bay Area. We have frosts every winter and rare temperature drops into the mid to upper 20s, and these plants handle that no problem. Flowers emerge from tall stalks (5-6'), and are not very colorful but the hummingbirds love them.

A previous owner of my property planted upwards of 5 or 6 in a side yard, meaning that a decade later I have the privilege of seeing them at their true HUGE mature size. They look so dainty in everyones pots! Our last wet cold winter killed or severely set back flaxes across Portland, but with a close crop two of mine seem eager to tell me they aren't dead yet. Personally, I'm not in love with them, they lose a lot of their special coloring when older and since mine are planted on a southern side of the property, just look like large dark masses. Update: after another harsh winter dip into the teens, all of the above huge mature flaxes are dead dead dead. Not a one or thing left to stand for their former glory. Tough love and now I have room for smoke bushes!

After being bombarded w/ these on the TV garden shows, they have finally started to appear in small quantities here in Cincinnati.
Large ones are still rather pricey though.
Look for the smaller 4" pots and you can get a deal though.

Lovely bronze foliage and quite sturdy they should make a strong statement.
I found them rather lax as youngsters but they developed that strong upright habit rather quickly.
In the Midwest the more sun the better.

Of course these will need to go in w/ the bananas and other 'tenders' come Winter.

Family name may be listed as Agavaceae or Phormiaceae, Giant New Zealand Flax has olive green foliage and can reach 6-10' high. Very easy to grow, cold hardy and impervious to wind. Makes a good screen.

Here in zone 9 coastal Nor. CA. many local nurseries offer the P. tenax hybrids, which are more brightly colored and smaller, better sized for the urban gardens. They are a bit less cold-hardy than the bigger P. tenax, and need a bit of shade in desert temperatures. Once established they can be very drought-resistant, but can take water unlike many xeric plants, without crown rotting.

An evergreen clump forming plant from New Zealand.

Has lancelike-sword shaped, upright, rigid, dark green leaves. Bears long spikes of tubular, red-brick red flowers upto 2 inches long.

Flowers June-August but needs to be several years old before if begins its flowering stage.

Likes moist, well drained, fertile, soil in full sun. Only hardy down to 23F and will need mulch in winter in frost prone areas.

Good accent plants with many leaf colour forms.