Re: Phormium tenax
Moira wrote:
>If P. cookianum is less hardy I would be very surprised. In nature,
>while P. tenax is a coastal and lowland species, P cookianum is known as
>the mountain flax and occurs freely in many upland areas. Actually, like
>a number of mountain species, it also inhabits sea cliffs (a lot occurs
>on the cliffs around Wellington).
I've always understood and assumed P. cookianum (colensoi) to be much
hardier by long way. When I had the nursery up in the Midlands,
there were only a few of the variegated forms available and P.
cookianum 'Tricolor' was quite popular on account of its ability to
withstand the typical, freeze-thaw cycle that we got up there. P.
tenax was also quite resilient and only showed signs of discomfort in
the winter of 1981/82 when temperatures fell to around minus 23C .
Potted plants were killed outright, but those in wind-sheltered spots,
growing in well drained soils recovered very quickly.
>I wonder if ornamental hybrids with reduced chlorophyll are equally
>hardy, it never goes down low enough in most parts of NZ to give this a
>real testing.
We did see 'Sundance' (I think that's the right name) and 'Yellow
Wave' amongst the first imports from Duncan & Davies (Christchurch,
New Zealand) who were starting to export heavily at that time and both
were excellent in a 'normal' winter. 'Yellow Wave' in particular has
proven itself to be remarkably tough and a huge clump of it in my
sister's garden up in the Midlands is testament to its hardiness. I
like its more compact habit and the leaves do not 'get in the way'
unlike its larger brethren.
Down here Phormiums of all sorts tend to be like Cordyline australis -
ubiquitous and planted almost to an excess. Many of the larger tenax
varieties can rapidly outgrow their welcome and pose major problems
when the time comes for their removal. Despite this, I quite like to
see them and a massive clump nearly 3 metres high and 5 metres across
is really quite impressive - especially when in full flower. They
have the advantage of being utterly indifferent to salt spray and are
very much in evidence around the harbourside and along the sea front.
Dave Poole
TORQUAY
http://www.ilsham.demon.co.uk/gardenviews.html
