Re: Phormium tenax
David Poole wrote:
>
> Margy wrote:
>
> >I'm thinking of planting New Zealand Flax along a very long, open fence at
>
> > 1. Can I plant this from seed
>
> Phormium tenax and the smaller P. colensoi are readily grown from seed
> making quite decent sized plants in a relatively short time.
>
> > 2. I would prefer one of the cream/green hybrids...or possibly a
> >combination of cream/green and some of the bronzy ones...I'm looking for a
> >very dramatic, "architectural" look.
>
> Ah, here's your problem - many of the variegated forms - especially
> the yellow striped variants, are chimaeras and as such need either to
> be micro-propped or divided since they will not reproduce true from
> seed. The purple leaved forms will occasionally produce some
> reasonably well coloured seedlings, depending upon the parent plant.
> The comparatively compact growing P. colensoi 'Tricolor' with leaves
> striped creamy white with reddish edges does occasionally throw a few
> variegated seedlings, but to get any decent quantities you need to sow
> a lot of seed and be prepared to throw away hundreds of green plants.
>
> Years ago, I had several big P. colensoi 'Tricolor' which flowered
> freely and set good amounts of seed, but I worked out that for every
> 50 seeds germinated, I would get 3 variegated plants, 2 of which were
> almost white, with little or no chlorophyll and these subsequently
> died. At the same time, I had a very well coloured plant of P. tenax
> 'Purpurea' which gave a high percentage of good purples with very few
> greens.
>
> Of course the next problem is where do you source the seed - P. tenax
> is fairly easy, even purple leaved forms, but colensoi? Moira?
>
Hi
I could probably get you seed of a garden form of Colenso, such as the
old variety Tricolor come our summer. Seed ripens between January and
March, but I think you would go far better with divisions. I would
suggest purchasing one or two plants of variegated varieties you
particularly fancy and breaking them up into single "fans", which should
all grow. Thes will probably increase pretty quickly if suited and you
can then divide them further.
My excellent "Propagtion of NZ Native Plants" says "The leaves should be
cut back severely, so that on larger-growing kinds they are about
40-60cm long and on the smaller kinds 30-50 cm long. If not cut back
thay can wilt quite severely and can affect the well-being of the
division...New leaves soon make their appearance. Trim back the roots to
about 15-20cm long, but make sure thy are long enough to anchor the
division into the ground. Divisions of the smaller kinds can be put into
containers for growing on.
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata,
New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
