Horticultural Notes

4′ x 4′      New Zealand flax is an excellent, slow growing, accent plant.  Phormiums are very tough perennials that require full sun or light shade, moderate water and a fairly well drained soil.  Good at all elevations.  Pink Stripe is a larger selection with leaves colored bronzy gray green with a pink edge.

Watch out for mealybug, they get into the crown of the plant, between the leaf blades.  Oddly enough I have found that planting large numbers of Phormium seem to have more mealybug than just a few.  Ants are farming these insects, as they do with aphids and scale.  We use Talstar granules, a synthetic pyrethoid, to sprinkle in and around the crown.  This keeps the ants away and really slows down the mealybug too.