In message , Pam Moore
writes

My daughter has a big, established phormium which she wants to remove.
She said she might dig it up and try to sell it. I recall on GQT once
comebody being told to get the army in to help remove a phormium.
Has anyone had any experience of digging one up? How hard a job is it?
The base is about 18 inches and the height 6 ft-ish.
TIA

That seems to be a fairly small base for a 6' plant and it should be
possible to dig it out with some dedicated digging. For a mature tenax
with a large root area the following works.
Dig a trench around it, undercut the main root area as much as possible,
attach a wire rope or chain around the base then winch or tow it out.
Place in prepared hole, soak well and again on following day. It should
recover.

--
Robert