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Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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Posted by ihrtdahlias 8 (My Page) on Sat, Jan 20, 07 at 15:59
| Hello, with all the snow and ice we have had, my New Zealand Flax plants are laying flat on the ground. They were about 5 to 6 feet tall. Is there a way I can save them?? Thank You. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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- Posted by bboy z8 WA USA (My Page) on
Sat, Jan 20, 07 at 17:32
| Will recover next season if not destroyed by low temperatures. New leaves grow from the root crown, same as with a lawn grass. Collapse/mowing back of existing foliage does not prevent recovery of previous condition, unlike with a tree or shrub that grows from the ends of branches and will retain effects of being frozen or cut back in its branching structure. |
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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| Sorry about your phormium looking so sad. I'm seeing more and more of that as this winter progresses. The different types have different winter hardiness and some seem especially displeased with this winter. Yours may recover from the roots if it's one of the hardier types, so once the temperatures are warm and settled you can hack off the wilted foliage and see if it returns from the roots. Some of mine are totally unshaken by this winter, and some seem a little cranky. Take care and keep us posted!
Grant |
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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| I think you're right, Grant. I'm seeing a lot of very dispirited phormiums around town this winter, including several in the display gardens at work and one of my own. I think this could be a repeat of the winter of '98, which resulted in the demise of a lot of flaxes. Mine made it through that winter with flying colors but its replacement (it got too darn big) is not quite so well established and it looks very sad. Others - different cultivars - appear to be more or less unaffected, even a couple in containers. Same with heucheras - some appear totally unaffected by the cold and wet, others have melted away to mush. Just a good excuse to try out some new ones! |
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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- Posted by bboy z8 WA USA (My Page) on
Tue, Jan 23, 07 at 22:38
| Collapsed heucheras I would inspect for weevil larvae. |
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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- Posted by bboy z8 WA USA (My Page) on
Wed, Jan 24, 07 at 0:30
| We had that extra-rainy spell, too. Heucheras need good drainage. They aren't usually tender, unlike New Zealand flax. |
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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| I am quite aware of how to grow heucheras and there is a distinct difference between a heuchera that is affected by root weevils and one that has suffered from cold. For one thing, the crown remains attached to the roots - it just turns to mush and the foliage dies off. That's not to say the plant is irretrievably damaged, but it sure looks like crap for a plant that should hold its foliage well through winter in this zone. Many of the newer hybrids tend to be rather shortlived anyway and not all are as vigorous as others. A number of those with lighter colored foliage - 'Amber Waves', Marmalade', 'Peach Flambe'., etc. appear to be less winter hardy and durable. The ones that have proven to be real winter troopers, both at the nursery and at home, include 'Frosted Violet', 'Green Spice', 'Obsidian', 'Ebony and Ivory', 'Silver Scrolls' and some of the old standbys like 'Plum Pudding' and 'Crimson Curls'. Perhaps I am just used to heucheras remaining robust and "evergreen" through our typically mild winters and this winter they are performing more like they would do in colder climates. But in all my years of growing and selling them, they have never had such poor winter performance as many have experienced this season. |
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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- Posted by bboy z8 WA USA (My Page) on
Wed, Jan 24, 07 at 11:29
| Again sounds like it might have been the wetness. The timing would fit, anyway. Local lowland native species quite consistent about growing on rocks where moisture would never puddle around the crowns. |
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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| Yup. As more and more of us had success with phormiums, we tried new varieties and some are proving less durable than others, though it's a fun experiment (if you don't mind having one melt now and then). This winter will be a good litmus test to see which are more winter hardy than others. Some really are unbothered and others may be dead, or just defoliated. I drove by the clump I planted in my original garden in 1985 and they're still going strong (despite the current owner's neglect), though some of the pink-variegated ones at my previous garden look like the way yours sounds, ihrt. My current garden is having very uniform results in that the different specimens of the same cultivar either all look happy, or all look sad. I'll submit a full report when I determine in the floppy ones are dead, or damaged, lol. And remember to keep us updated on yours too!
Take care,
Grant |
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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- Posted by bboy z8 WA USA (My Page) on
Wed, Jan 24, 07 at 23:24
| Today I drove past a clay-colored Mediterranean fan palm about 3 ft. high, with unperturbed windmill palms a few addresses away. It wasn't that cold, many cordylines look fine and those are definitely not hardy - dying to the ground and resprouting from the roots rather often and rather generally in this area. All it apparently did was dip down into the average minimum range for Zone 8 of 10F-20F. Anything that got fried by that will not be a completely successful long-term feature here. |
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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| Agreed. I've planted both windmill palms and Mediterranean at three previous gardens and eventually the Mediterranean gets killed by a cold winter; all of the windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei) still look fabulous. I'll be adding one to this new garden this spring. I think a lot of people think USDA zone 8 is warmer than it really is, or is supposed to be, heh heh. Take care,
Grant |
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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- Posted by bboy z8 WA USA (My Page) on
Thu, Jan 25, 07 at 13:49
| Hence "Zonal Denial." Lots of things will grow for years, sometimes many years before their minimum temperature is fallen below. Provides an opportunity for plant enthusiasts to exploit, for their own amusement (and that of other aficianodos). Where problems may occur is when local climate and plants-as-merchandise are represented to the uninitiated, who do not want to invest in something that ends up frying, sooner or later. |
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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- Posted by bboy z8 WA USA (My Page) on
Fri, Jan 26, 07 at 2:36
| Make that mis-represented. |
RE: Can New Zealand Flax be saved
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| Should recover. But don't leave all the damaged leaves. I wouldn't cut back to closer than 6" off the ground. There are solutions to avoid this for next time. Just post for ideas if you don't come up with your own remedy. I'm now wrapping my bamboo, and next year, will develop a wrap for my Phormium, which did fine with this year's snow. At the last home in Beaverton, I kept a lightweight bamboo pole, and tapped the snow off trees and plants I was concerned about - even late at night. It helped quite a bit. |
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