Hi,
I have grown Phormium Tenax from seed - collected locally from an old
garden in Aberdeen. The largest of my plants (all pot grown) would be 4 - 5
ft high with a spread of 3 - 4 ft - it's in a largish pot - 20" or so. It
would be 3 -4 years old now. Has anyone any idea when it might / could
flower? Should I try giving it a higher potash feed this spring?

Chris S

Well, assuming they perform much as they do here in NZ, it should be within
a year or two, though I must say that I've never seen flaxes in pots flower
that well. How about planting some out? They're tough. Specimens around 1m
diameter at the base will usually have 2-3 flower spikes in summer. Don't
worry about the fertiliser; you should see where they grow in the wild.

Geoff Bryant
www.hortiphoto.com


"Chris Stewart" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I have grown Phormium Tenax from seed - collected locally from an old
garden in Aberdeen. The largest of my plants (all pot grown) would be 4 -
5
ft high with a spread of 3 - 4 ft - it's in a largish pot - 20" or so. It
would be 3 -4 years old now. Has anyone any idea when it might / could
flower? Should I try giving it a higher potash feed this spring?

Chris S

: Hi,
: I have grown Phormium Tenax from seed - collected locally from an
: old garden in Aberdeen. The largest of my plants (all pot grown)
: would be 4 - 5 ft high with a spread of 3 - 4 ft - it's in a largish
: pot - 20" or so. It would be 3 -4 years old now. Has anyone any idea
: when it might / could flower? Should I try giving it a higher potash
: feed this spring?
:
: Chris S

Mine flower in a good summer, not that they're worth holding your breath for

Robert South West England

"Robert" wrote in message
...
: Hi,
: I have grown Phormium Tenax from seed - collected locally from an
: old garden in Aberdeen. The largest of my plants (all pot grown)
: would be 4 - 5 ft high with a spread of 3 - 4 ft - it's in a largish
: pot - 20" or so. It would be 3 -4 years old now. Has anyone any idea
: when it might / could flower? Should I try giving it a higher potash
: feed this spring?
:
: Chris S

Mine flower in a good summer, not that they're worth holding your breath
for

Robert South West England



Hmm, if it's sun and warmth they need I'm goosed! I did plant one of them in
a "sunny" border, but it turned it's toes up and hasn't been seen since -
vanished over winter - don't know if it was the cold or wet, or a
combination thereof that got it.

Chris S

"Chris wrote in message : I have grown Phormium Tenax from seed -
collected locally from an
: old garden in Aberdeen. The largest of my plants (all pot grown)
: would be 4 - 5 ft high with a spread of 3 - 4 ft - it's in a largish
: pot - 20" or so. It would be 3 -4 years old now. Has anyone any idea
: when it might / could flower? Should I try giving it a higher potash
: feed this spring?

Mine flower in a good summer, not that they're worth holding your breath
for

Hmm, if it's sun and warmth they need I'm goosed! I did plant one of them
in
a "sunny" border, but it turned it's toes up and hasn't been seen since -
vanished over winter - don't know if it was the cold or wet, or a
combination thereof that got it.


There are some round here N.Surrey, that have died over this hot and very
dry summer we had last year.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars
358 data units completed.

The message
from "Robert" contains these words:

: Hi,
: I have grown Phormium Tenax from seed - collected locally from an
: old garden in Aberdeen. The largest of my plants (all pot grown)
: would be 4 - 5 ft high with a spread of 3 - 4 ft - it's in a largish
: pot - 20" or so. It would be 3 -4 years old now. Has anyone any idea
: when it might / could flower? Should I try giving it a higher potash
: feed this spring?
:
: Chris S

Mine flower in a good summer, not that they're worth holding your breath for

Robert South West England

I have had two clumps of Phormium tenax - the purpureum type - for five
years in my garden and the original plant was presumably a year or two
old when I bought it. It is really healthy, huge clumps, but it has
never flowered.

Janet G
S. Lincs

The message
from "Chris Stewart" contains these words:

Hi,
I have grown Phormium Tenax from seed - collected locally from an old
garden in Aberdeen. The largest of my plants (all pot grown) would be 4 - 5
ft high with a spread of 3 - 4 ft - it's in a largish pot - 20" or so. It
would be 3 -4 years old now. Has anyone any idea when it might / could
flower? Should I try giving it a higher potash feed this spring?

Last year in our new garden on Arran, I planted several, all from GC
pots and smaller than yours..I was very surprised when one of the
variegated ones grew a flower spike in its first summer of liberty.
Although the flowers themselves are not specially beautiful, the flower
spikes are very striking and so are the long twisty seed pods. On large
old plants on the island you see many flower spikes, reaching 10 ft +.

How long did it take you to grow them to 5ft from seed? I planted some
seeds (purple phormium) in autumn which germinated a couple of weeks
ago.

Janet.

The message
from "Chris Stewart" contains these words:

Hi,
I have grown Phormium Tenax from seed - collected locally from an old
garden in Aberdeen. The largest of my plants (all pot grown) would be 4 - 5
ft high with a spread of 3 - 4 ft - it's in a largish pot - 20" or so. It
would be 3 -4 years old now. Has anyone any idea when it might / could
flower? Should I try giving it a higher potash feed this spring?

Last year in our new garden on Arran, I planted several, all from GC
pots and smaller than yours..I was very surprised when one of the
variegated ones grew a flower spike in its first summer of liberty.
Although the flowers themselves are not specially beautiful, the flower
spikes are very striking and so are the long twisty seed pods. On large
old plants on the island you see many flower spikes, reaching 10 ft +.

How long did it take you to grow them to 5ft from seed? I planted some
seeds (purple phormium) in autumn which germinated a couple of weeks
ago.

Janet.