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Winter Damaged Phormium

richjamesturnerrichjamesturner Posts: 70
in Problem solving
Hi all,

My beautiful Maori Queen phormium took a battering this winter. I haven't protected it before but the cold snap we had here in the UK in November took it's toll. It's still alive but it's a shadow of it's former self.

My question is, do I wait patiently for it to regrow or replace it? A decent sized specimen is prob going to set me back £50-£60 which is quite a lot. How long is it likely to take to look good and full again? Is there anything I can do to help it along?

Thanks in advance,

Rich




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  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @richjamesturner It is looking rough at present but it will be back. Some especially those with coloured leaves have died or suffered badly this year. From the southern hemisphere can't cope here when we have a winter like last year. Not that a GC will tell you that. The root is alive so patience now needed I have seen them cut back to the ground and they regrow slowly as long as the root hasn't rotted.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • richjamesturnerrichjamesturner Posts: 70
    @GardenerSuze thank you for the reply. Any idea of timeframe? Not necessarily to total perfection but at least to looking good again.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    edited April 2023
    @richjamesturner It could be some time, difficult to say as the seasons are so variable, plus your microclimate and where you are in the UK. I would expect it to recover more quickly in the south.
    Cut back to the ground they can take a couple of years to recover. Yours should be showing improvement over the summer.
    P Platt's Black and  Blondie are in my local GC now both lovely but need to be underglass in winter. Up to the purchaser to work it out. Your's is more hardy but last winter was very challenging for them.
    I grow P tricolor just had some yellowed leave this winter, it must be tougher.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    Once the weather warms up, if the crown and root are alive, it will pick up.  Don't fall for the ( sadly ) common error of dumping it this early in the season.  That is what so many GC's rely on gardeners doing and buying again  ;)  Give it time.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    I agree too early to give up it will recover
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831
    Ours Platt's Black was the healthiest looking of our Phormium's, after this Winter. This may be due to the fact that it is in the ground. We lost two Evening Glow, that were in pots, and almost lost a Cream Delight, which is also in a pot. 

    I'd be wary of planting them in pots in future, unless it has very good drainage. 
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @KeenOnGreen I love PLatt's Black. Have tried it before but no luck. There is one area of the garden I could try but common sense says no.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    I've never grown the black one but got a feeling that @Fairygirl had one growing - last year or the year before maybe ?  
    I like the sound of them and I think they would do OK here - definitely food for thought.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I had Platt's Black a long time ago @philippasmith2 - very nice. I've had Blackadder in this garden for many years, and had a couple of divisions of it in containers - all gone after this winter, without doubt. Mine are all in containers or raised beds to keep them drier, but they've all succumbed.
    The one I love - Cream Delight, which is near the back door in a raised bed, has shown signs of life and seems to have survived. Just the bits right against the timber edging, the rest's gone. 

    It's the wet/freeze/cycle that's been the problem @richjamesturner. Mine usually look pretty rough after winter, but I take all the old foliage off and they come away again. This hasn't been the same spell of weather though. I've never lost any and I've been growing them for decades. Other than those two spells of weather [December and March] it's not what I'd have called a cold winter here where I am though. 
    Yours looks a lot better than any of mine did though!
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    edited April 2023
    I removed all the damaged leaves from my Phormiums a couple of weeks ago, gave them a few handfuls of blood fish and bone, a mulch of composited farmyard manure, plus a good watering.  They look much better already but that's probably because all the tatty leaves have been removed!  You could may be take those cut leaf stumps down as close to the base of the plant as possible to improve its appearance, then wait and see!
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


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