Matt's Merlot New Zealand Flax

No matter how large or small your landscape is, Matsuda's Dark New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax 'Mat's Merlot') will add stylish upright texture and incredibly dark, dramatic color throughout your garden landscape. You'll love their lustrous finish that gleams in the sun. It protects their color from fading in full sun all day long.

This variety stays compact and looks incredible with a collection of tropical houseplants brought outdoors for summer. The strappy leaves make an excellent contrast to large-leaved plants and finer misty textured foliage. Dark New Zealand Flax forms narrow space-saving clumps so that any container garden or small-space gardener alike can enjoy these unique foliage accents!

With a strongly erect, vase-shaped form and blade-like leaves, Flax plants can be used as a vertical texture in your garden, combined with a vibrantly dark color to highlight everything else around them. Evergreen in warm climates, New Zealand Flax keeps that dramatic color year-round and may even bloom tiny red blossoms that hummingbirds love. In cooler climates, use these accents as annuals or bring them indoors as houseplants. These firewise plants help protect your defensible space.

Planting and Application:

Matsuda's is perfect in a relaxing poolside setting or for creating your own Zen oasis where you can truly feel like you are getting away from the world! Why not use plants to create your own tropical paradise? Keep it in containers on your balcony, or grow a modern mass planting along your seating areas. Keep several in starkly streamlined containers perfectly positioned equidistantly along your terrace for a high-end look. Maximize this architectural perennial by utilizing it in a high-profile spot or use them in groups for a dramatic display!

Looking incredible when repeated to create a textural stand or en masse planting! Create a solid fill by planting them 18 inches apart, measuring from the center of one to the center of the next. Plant a showy row of them as a foundation planting, add them in a sinuous ribbon at the foreground of a shrub border, or as a backdrop or along the sidewalk, where its vertical growth will avoid trip hazards. Amazing Red New Zealand Flax really draws the eye!

• Excellent Nearly-Black Purplish-Red Hue
• Showy Sword-Like Leaves
• Upright Narrow Clumps
• Hardy Outdoors USDA Zones 5-8 & Annual in Cooler Zones
• Can Be Kept in Containers, Garden Accents, Thrillers & Upright Specimen

#ProPlantTips for Care:

This pretty plant can take full sunshine without its dark, reddish-brown leaves getting drab. New Zealand Flax can do well in a bit of shade, but needs at least four hours of direct sunlight a day or you'll lose out on that saturated color. Phorbium requires well-drained soils and their roots can't handle wet soil or extended drought. Use a container if you struggle with poor drainage or create a raised planting bed. In late winter or early spring after flowering, cut out damaged or discolored leaves and away from the base of the clump and trim tattered ends at a diagonal all the way down at the bottom. Wear gloves for this task!

• Performs in Full Sun to Part Shade
• Grow in Windy & Coastal Conditions
• Waterwise Once Established
• Deer & Rabbits Don't Prefer the Taste
• Appears on Firewise Plant Lists

Matsuda's Dark New Zealand Flax is just the specimen plant you’ve been looking for! With dramatic color and ease of care, you won't go wrong planting this fantastic accent anywhere in your landscape! Upgrade your garden with the help of NatureHills.com!