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Their leathery leaves are salt resistant and ideal for coastal gardens like mine in the countryside next to the sea. They also make a good architectural feature in a border..jpg)
Being a tightwad smallholder/gardener I don't pay those garden centre prices and I make my own plants by dividing the plants at this time of year
They are also quite expensive and can range from a fiver to forty quid for nice large specimens.
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You take the plant out of the pot or dig it up if its in the garden and take out a trusty old bread knife or old saw or even use your spade like I did and made myself 10 new plants.
Anyone want one? I will sell them for five Euros each to you. That's deferred gratification of 50 Euros from a carboot sale in a few weeks. Not bad for less than an hours work dividing and replanting them in pots filled with my homemade compost.
I wandered off to have a read on them. They look as if they would make a nice back drop in a flower garden. Alas and alack...I cannot purchase these. I live in Pennsylvania and they will not work in my planting zone.
ReplyDeleteYou could always but Phormium Tenax seeds Debby, They seem to grow anywhere.
DeleteI have divided plants in years past with a big old bread knife, just upended the pot, sliced the plant into four quarters, teased out the roots and replanted. It works well.
ReplyDeleteIt does River. It saves money and it makes you pleased with your propagating achievements.
ReplyDeleteWe have a large clump of these growing down beside the end of our drive. Last year I had to cut back a lot of the leaves as they were growing all over the driveway. Boy, are they tough!
ReplyDeleteThey are worth digging up and dividing JayCee or even just cutting the foliage back. Aborigines use to make ropes out of Photmiums. Nettles were also used for ropes and army uniforms. Are there any IOM carboot sales to sell the new Phormium plants?
ReplyDeleteNo car boot sales but many local churches have indoor table top sales .
DeleteWest Cork doesn't have many car boot sales either apart from markets. I use to go to a massive one at Chelford near Manchester Airport. It's like a carboot city. A great day out.
ReplyDeleteIt's tempting but yesterday Michael O'Leary from Ryanair phoned me and was cursing like a nun in a sauna. He said there was no feckin way he was going to pick up and deliver any more plants from "The Theatre of Dreams" nursery on the north coast of The Sheep's Head Peninsula.
ReplyDeleteIs it because he's a City fan like Rick Wakeman YP?
ReplyDeletePrincipally, O'Leary is an O'Leary fan. He has won "The Most Obnoxious Irishman" award ten years in a row.
DeleteDavid O'Leary was a great player for Jack Charlton. I always fly with Ryanair. They are not the best but they give everyone a chance of a cheap trip to European destinations. I just wish they had a television screen to watch instead of mothering about their lotto, cheap perfume...?
DeleteMothering even. Stupid autocorrect.
DeleteMithering!
DeletePhormium tenax aka New Zealand flax's proper name is Harakeke...and it's used for many things, not least as good a windbreak!! We saw it from one end of Aotearoa NZ to the other...so it must be fairly tolerant for growing conditions
ReplyDeleteThanks for that GZ Hebes are another New Zealand plant you see growing over here. Phormiums don't mind salt water or wind.
ReplyDeleteYou should see the Top 10 campsite at Ross Beach, south of Hokitika....huge Harakeke windbreaks all round, cabins made of containers and a job to tell the difference between the earth tremors and the thundering surf!! And a blissful night's sleep!
ReplyDeleteSounds an amazing place and holiday GZ. I would love to go to Canada to visit. Especially Newfoundland. There's supposed to be a big Irish influence on the style of buildings and the music. One day perhaps?
ReplyDelete