Re: Phormium
- Subject: Re: Phormium
- From: "Marge Talt" m*@hort.net
- Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 00:43:01 -0400
Thanks, Karen, kind of you to post this.
Plant Delights is in Raleigh, NC. and runs about 10 degrees warmer in
winter than where I am. Tony can keep several things alive over
winter that I cannot in most years:-( He's z 7, too, but the warm
end of it, where I am the cold end of it. If I can get some to grow,
I could take a chance on romance, but probably not the first several
years:-)
In addition to warmer air temps (when it gets to 0F for him, it
doesn't stay there as long as it does for me), his soil is sandy and
mine is clay...which, I think, has a lot to do with overwintering
relatively tender plants. He says that the key is keeping the crowns
dry, which a fast draining, sandy soil would do much better than clay
soil.
I tried an experiment last winter to see if this would work - left
most of my elephant ears and a couple of brugs in the ground - cut
back hard, covered with dry mulch; covered that with plastic, covered
that with some Styrofoam pieces I had laying around and heaped the
whole thing with about 2' of leaves. We shall see if it worked in a
few weeks when I take off the leaves and covering:-) Of course,
hedged my bets by potting up some bits of the Colocasias and taking
cuttings from the brugmansias in case it's a total failure, :-)
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
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> From: Karen B. <abtrlife@earthlink.net>
> Hi Marge,
>
> Since I'm relatively new to gardening, I had never heard of
phormium, so
> I did a search. The one site I looked at was Plant Delights. Here
is
> part of the comments for P. tenax 'Lineata' - "We have been very
pleased
> at the minimal foliage damage when winter temperatures drop below
10
> degrees F...nothing a quick haircut can't cure. The striped New
Zealand
> flax makes a stunning container plant in areas where winters are
cold."
>
> P. tenax 'Atropurpureum' says - "When the temperatures drop below
10
> degrees F, the foliage will burn and require a spring haircut."
>
> http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page69.html
>
> I know these aren't the same exact plants, but maybe the info would
work
> for all phormiums??
>
> Karen
> z5a
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