Phormium pruning

KeenOnGreen · February 2023

Our Phormiums took a real battering in a cold/snowy spell earlier this year. Almost every leaf is in a terrible state for some of the varieties we have. Normally we would just selectively prune out the deed/decaying shoots, but these will need every shoot to be cut back.

They are tough as old boots, and I'm sure it's fine to completely hard prune them. Has anyone done this before, successfully.

Fairygirl · February 2023

Mine have all kicked the bucket - too much ice after too much rain. I doubt the only pruning I'll be doing is right at the ankles, before lifting them out and binning them

I usually do the same as you @KeenOnGreen - remove all the damaged leaves, and they grow new ones. My favourite one, which I'll probably replace, is Cream Delight. Every year it gets a fair bit of damage, and I take off a lot of foliage, so I expect you could take them back quite comprehensively.
Mine have always come back, and I've been growing Phormiums for decades, but we had a very warm autumn, then a very, very wet Nov and early Dec, followed by rapid temp drops and ice, so they didn't stand a chance. They can withstand a fair bit of consistent, low temps, as long as the drainage is good, but not when it swings like that from one extreme to another so rapidly, and with the wet added in. The cells all just break down.
Normally here, they get plenty of time to accustom to the cold from about late September, with plenty of frosts, and then the rough, wet cold stuff. Most of our coldest weather, and snow, starts from the New Year, but that's never been a problem until this year. If this is how the weather pattern's going to be, then I won't be growing them any more.
They're all in raised beds or containers, but there's a limit to what I can do to mitigate the climate.

KeenOnGreen · February 2023

Thanks @Fairygirl Sorry to hear you have lost some of yours. Funnily enough, our Cream Delight looks really dreadful. It's one of our larger ones, and I hope I can salvage it. I'll cut back all of the others, and see what happens. Nice to know I'm not the only one who is in this position.

Paul B3 · February 2023

Last year we cut two very large Phormiums to ground ; readily regenerating in the Spring , and by June / July had made decent and manageable sized specimens .

Foliage can get damaged during extremes , but they're very tough and the roots survive.

The worst part of this job is cutting through the very fibrous leaves .......good luck !!

thevictorian · February 2023

I've seen gardeners treat them similarly to pampas grass and every third year, cut them right down to the ground. They seem to spring back and put on some vigorous growth.

Fairygirl · February 2023

Mine was well established @KeenOnGreen, but I'll probably replace it. I removed some of the outer leaves recently, but there doesn't look to be anything viable in there.
It's always a nice plant for year round colour, especially when it's near the back of the house, and I can see it from the windows.
This was it in early January. It's a lot worse now! Completely rusty and brown.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030279/uploads/editor/8l/4lgbr23oea5i.jpg

The others I have are goners. Two Yellow Wave, and some Blackadders.
The Libertia's done for as well. I'll replace it if I can get it again at the nursery. It's L. ixioides Goldfinger. Nice variety .

GardenerSuze · February 2023

I have cut them to the ground and they made a full recovery. The problem is similiar to Hebes as mentioned in another thread today, they take along time to recover.

When buying Phormiums be aware, I purchased Blondie a few years and returned it a week later when I realised whilst researching on line that it needed to be underglass in the winter. Nothing to say that on the label.

Papi Jo · February 2023

Sorry for those whose Phormiums suffered. Just went out to take a pic of my P. ‘Pink Stripe’, planted 6 years ago which has grown enormously to 2.5 m wide and high. Flowered for the first time last summer. Looking good, but I'll cut a fair number of leaves later.

Fairygirl · February 2023

I just went and took anther pic before the rain came back on
Bonny isn't it?

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030279/uploads/editor/jd/27rxndb9xw8t.jpg

Lizzie27 · February 2023

I'd wait a while @Fairygirl before cutting that right down/binning it. It looks as though a couple of leaves still have green so hopefully it might just grow again?

Fairygirl · February 2023

No - there's nothing fresh in at the base @Lizzie27, and there would normally be by now, so it's highly unlikely anything new or viable will appear, as that's where the signs of new life appear. I'll be leaving it for a while anyway. Those green bits are on leaves that are on their way out. It's how all of them have been as they've died off. On the plus side- the bronze fennel to the right of it is doing well - all of those are fine!
Just one of those things - I'm not that bothered. I'm not very sentimental about plants

Phormium pruning

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