Phormium's.

[Caprier]

Phormium tenax purpurea stands being divided and replanted, but were you planning to wait until the worst of the cold weather is finished, karl66? Even tenax is unlikely to re-establish well in wet and/or freezing conditions...

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

. yellow wave is gorgeous, ...

I bought 1no B&Q yellow wave at £9.99 and split it and made 22 plants out of it. That was about 2yrs ago me thinks and now they are all far bigger than the original.
Also bought one of the black phormium varieties which is a stunner, also split that but only about 5 plants out of that as the original was smaller.

[karl66]

Many thanks, i was going to split today as it's my day off but the weather has turned to cold so it will have to wait a week or so!, the two massive sundowner's i put in last year have grown really well for me, also i have pink stripe variety. karl.

[simon]

Thanks for feedback, is anyone growing tenax purpurem which is the one that gets to 4m high?. karl.

Phormiums top out at about 2m. 4m probably means the flower spike but sound excessive even for that. Also I doubt if a coloured variety gets any bigger than the species.

I have tenax "purpureum". It is very hardy here but has never flowered in 5 years. "Yellow Wave" flowered for the first time last summer.

[fieldfest]

Thanks for feedback, is anyone growing tenax purpurem which is the one that gets to 4m high?. karl.

yep I have one of those, my dad used to have loads before he moved house
heres a youngish one in the background http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/gallery ... re&id=1710

mines only about 4ft tall at the moment, its been moved twice in the last 2 years and they dont seem to like it too much so i'll leave it potted this year

my favourite is yellow wave and cream delight, my cream delight flowered year before last, also have jester which is nice

cream delight flowering


EDIT:
Heres the full plant in flower, quite small at the time too

and heres what my purple tenax is coming back from, probably why its not got very big yet. my dads were 2m tall easy

[fieldfest]

didnt realise i liked them so much

[Tom2006]

Lovely garden and phormiums. If anything you will have a problem of overcrowding in a few years but not a bad problem to have.

Mine seem to have all made it through winter so far hoping they put on some growth this year. my tenax have some 4' tall leaves but aren't bulking out for some reason.

[Andy P]

Yellow Waves are my favourite. Bought one of these about 2 years ago and decided i liked it so much decided to buy a few more. Look great, hardy as nails and make a good contrasting colour to all the green i have in the garden.
Here`s one of mine.......

[Adam D]

My variegated tenax in flower before it was flattened and destroyed by winter 09/10.

The tops of the flower spikes were getting on for over 10 foot tall.

[karl66]

Nice example!, lots of people i talk to about them also saw them turn to mush in 2010 but apparantly once you cut them back to the ground they make a comeback. I guess some people were to quick to dig them out!. karl.

[Delboy]

Funny that since 2010 the only non tender plant ive lost is my yellow wave.
It was potted so i guess thats why, i really must buy a replacement as its a lovely plant.

My Flax is slowly putting on some growth, but i need to move it as it will be too close to my Dicksonia antarctica. Dont think i have room for it tbh .....i will make room lol.

[MikeC]

Love 'em.

Yellow Wave my fave too.