I recently came across a picture of this flax in one of my gardening books. It is stunning ! The leaves are a medium green with a dark red or burgandy outline.
I realize that this is a tropical plant, and would not make it in my garden, but I am wondering if anyone is aware of a flax that can stand a zone 7a/6b area. I would prefer one with a reddish hue.
New Zealand Flax - Phormium 'Sea Jade'
None of the Phormiums are going to be hardy for you unfortunately--but I've seen them used in containers, could you consider doing that and bringing them in for the winter? I can't think of anything else that looks like the Phormiums but would be hardy for you--maybe someone else will have some ideas though.
I grow many varieties of New Zealand flax here in Iowa, I plant them out in the spring and dig up in the fall.They spend the winter in cool storage in the basement or in the greenhouse.
Eclipse,
That is a beautiful picture. It looks like a fairly large plant to have to dig up in the fall. Do you just pot it in a large container for the winter?
wow that's a really well designed arrangement you have there.
I dig up most of the larger tropicals to carry over. I pot them in the same pots they came out of in the spring.When grown from seed phormiums can be large singular plants or they can be massive clumps of many many single plants. Personally I love the large single plants with the wide leaves best.
Again Eclipse, that is beautiful. Unfortunately, I know that would not want to go through the hassle of digging these up each year to store inside. With my luck, something would happen the week before I got ready to plant them outside again.
I will just have to content myself with admiring them for afar.
They are marginal in our area, but I've seen pictures in England where they survive snow and come back stronger. They grew so fast there, that after 3 years they dug them up to give them more room. Sorry, it appears that website no longer exists.
I've had one in a container for the past 4 years that stays outdoors plus I bought 3 last year at Lowe's that are in the ground. The leaves look bad right now but the crowns are fine. Here are the 3 from Lowe's.
Butch, those are really nice. I never see Phormium's at our Lowes.
Jackie
I saw the same ones at a local nursery for $20 apiece. I said they were too high (plus they let them get sunburned) but I would buy them when they went on sale (thinking I'd settle for $16 per). I didn't have to wait since Lowe's got them in a couple of weeks later for $13 apiece.
My first one was from a Chattanooga nursery for $10 in a fairly nice pot. Here it is:
Butch, Love that one. Great color and impressive size even in a pot.
I need to look more closely at Lowes and HD this spring.
Butch,
What is that plant with the varigated leaves peeking out behind the phormium?
pennefeather,
The one right behind the phormium is canna 'Tropicanna', to the right of that is variegated shell ginger (alpinia zerumbet), and the grass in the pot is Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra `Aureola`).
I got 7 phormiums at Lowes last fall for $5.12 each. they came in missmarked that was their cost, they were supposed to be $14.87 each.Big markup. I said but they are tagged at $5.12 each so they had to sell them to me for that price, guess they thought I'd go postal on em, and the huge line of people behind me wouldn't have been happy either LOL They were a new hybrid thats pink / red/ white striped.
Don't you love it when you get those kinds of deals? It doesn't happen often, but it's great when it does!
I luv it!
;-)
Kyle your plants are huge! Have you started them from seeds before? The seeds of the var. NZ Flax just came in and I would like to start a few.
Luv the colors on yours, hcmcdole!
:) Donna
Donna, a friend of mine gets the seeds and starts them.I get them at about 6-8 inches tall then grow them on.takes about 1 1/2 yrs to get really tall or wide.Lots of variation in seedlings.some huge others not.color varies a lot too in seedlings.
Eclipse,
Do you know if the seeds are readily available or does your friend have a personal secret source?
Pennefeather, I have a few seeds I could spare if you are interested. I think they are just the basic green and white.
:) Donna
I just love phormiums. My favorite is the Guardsmen, an upright, real red one. Some are upright and some are very arching and you need space for them. They are planted all over here in street plantings now as well as in mall plantings. A lot are not a stable color and it is fun to see a whole planting of them with varying shades of color and reverting. Beware, they can get HUGE!! I am talking 10 feet by 10 feet. My next favorite is the Jester though that one the color is not stable.
I am so glad to see the prices come down. Here gallons go for $12 at a regular nursery but up to $18 at the fancy ones. 5 gallon ones go for $36 to $56. I saw tons of a great 5 gallon PINK one the other day at HD for just $18. And I walked on by. I must be recovering from my flaximosis. LOL
I can't wait to see your seedlings Kyle. I hope you get some real pretty new ones.
And beware, so many are so close looking, I often wonder if different growers just change the name.
Sea Jade is a bit calm for me. I go for the bright ones. When the sun hits them, they can look like fire.
Sea Jade
Kell,
I just can't imagine living some place where you can pick these pretty plants up at any HD or Walmart. They are just beautiful and I am so jealous. Maybe the next time that I move to a warmer climate, I will stay there. I lived in Savannah, GA for four year - I'm sure that I could have grown phormiums there if I knew about them then!
Donna,
Thank you for the seed offer, but, I am going to have to pass. I just bought my second set of seed starting shelving/shop lights/light bulbs today. I will have so many annuals and perenials to start this year, and I don't know what I am going to do with those. The seed starting rack that I just bought last year is completely full, and I still haven't opened all of this year's seed packages!
Gosh I hear you about the seed racks, Mine are getting so full too!!
I am so lucky here but I think Florida people have it even better. I just drool over their plants!! LOL
Here is my favorite, the Guardsmen.
Kell,
That's beautiful too. The person who figuires out how to make a version that survives in colder temperatures will be a millionaire.
Well on the happy side, so many of my plants died with the unexpected and long freeze we had in January. But the phormiums didn't even get leaf burn.