Garden Designers & Landscape Gardeners
Garden Buildings in South & East England

Phormium tenax.
This is an invaluable plant known as New Zealand Flax after it's country of origin. Its evergreen leaves are produced from a fan shaped base of which there are many in a clump. They can be as high as 2.5m and 15cm across and are upright for about their first season after which they arch back and eventually bend downwards. There is a huge range of different leaf colours that are named, however as there are endless intermeadiate colours between bright green through grey to purple we refer to them simply as P.tenax forms. The one shown here growing in the Carribean Home From Home is a strong purple form. 

Left - this photo shows the dark colour and tall upright shape of a Phormium making a good structural backdrop in this composition. Here it offsets the Kniphofia 'Alcazar' and Crocosmia flowers and provides a vertical contrast to the low rosette forming plants around it.
Centre - all Phormiums produce spectacular branching flower spikes which reach about 3m tall and can vary in colour from dark blood red through all shades of orange to yellow, seen here with a native New Zealand bird.
Right - after the flowers these decorative seeds appear held upright on the the old flower spikes, adding yet another ornamental quality to this plant.

Left - this grey/green form is approaching its maximum height. For such a tall plant Phormiums have a useful upright habit, however the leaves do arch and eventually fold, so in this position in the English Country Garden, right next to a deck and path this clump needed regular trimming. This does not affect the health of the plant and gives us 2 possible ways of growing it - as a natural wide arching clump, or tight group of upright swords.
Right - a green form with orange flowers.