New Zealand Flax

New Zealand Flax (Phormium) - Fine-leaved plants from New Zealand, like giant Iris in foliage, their tough broadly sword-shaped leaves rising to a height of many feet in the more vigorous kinds, and of stately effect at the waterside mingled with Bamboos, Pampas Grass, and Gunneras. In hard winters even strong plants may be injured or cut to the ground, but the roots seldom perish, and by selection hardier forms are now available than those first introduced. In the most favoured districts one well-grown plant of Phormium will spread into a mass 30 or 40 feet in circumference and 8 to 10 feet high, with flower-stems rising several feet above this. The reddish-brown flowers are more curious than beautiful, but when borne freely they give character to the plant. In cold districts the roots should be well protected, or the plants can be grown in tubs and moved to the conservatory, after a time on the lawn or terrace during summer. P. tenax is the common green-leaved kind, and is a noble plant of very vigorous growth, but tender. Some of its forms are more resistant, the hardiest of all being the Powerscourt variety, with a narrower and more glaucous leaf of erect growth, and about 6 feet long. A form with dark leaves is atro-purpurea, with a deep purplish zone along the edges of the leaf, and in some plants wholly suffusing it. P. Cookianum is hardier than P. tenax and a much smaller plant, with leaves of only 3 to 4 feet and yellow flowers; it also has a variegated variety. P. Colensoi is another fairly hardy kind from the mountains of New Zealand, with a spreading and graceful way of growth and narrow leaves. Of this there is a distinct garden form called compacta, very dwarf, neat, and hardy, with quite narrow leaves. Increase by seed and root-division, seed from one plant yielding a variety of forms. The Phormiums like a deep soil with abundance of sunlight and moisture, and where there is nothing to fear from frost they do well treated as waterside plants.

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