Evergreen perennialSpecimen

New Zealand Flax

Phormium tenax

A bold, architectural clump of long, sword-shaped evergreen leaves, with tall stalks of red flowers that hummingbirds visit, a striking accent and one of the toughest New Zealand flaxes. It's hardy only where winters are mild; elsewhere, grow it in a pot and bring it in.

See New Zealand Flax in your yardEarly access is free. Join the waitlist.

New Zealand Flax: whole plant — Photo: MurielBendel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mature size: 7 × 4.5 ft; 2.1 × 1.4 m, tall × wide
Hardiness: Zones 9a–11b; USDA
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Blooms: Jun–Jul

New Zealand Flax at its mature size

A mature New Zealand Flax grows 1 to 8 feet tall and 1 to 5 feet wide, taller than most people.

Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.

Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: San Marcos Growers, NC State Extension.

Through the year

What New Zealand Flax looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.

In leaf · Year-round

Stiff sword-shaped gray-green leaves in a fan.

Photos

New Zealand Flax: flowers — Flowers · Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

New Zealand Flax: leaves — Leaves · Avenue, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Growing New Zealand Flax

Grows well in: The Pacific Northwest and California.
Good for: Specimen
Leaves: Evergreen
Native to: New Zealand

Spacing

VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For New Zealand Flax, that’s about 4.5 ft apart, center to center.

Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.