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Phormium 'Dark Delight' (Black New Zealand Flax) - New Zealand Flax cultivar that grows to 4 feet tall with slightly arching, 1-2-inch-wide leaves that are a dark reddish brown. It blooms reliably in late spring to early summer with red flowers on upright stems to 5-6 feet tall.
Plant in full sun to light shade. Can tolerate fairly dry conditions (coastal) but looks best with occasional to regular irrigation. Cold hardy to 15-20° F and possibly root hardy below these temperatures but with severe foliage damage unless protected. A great plant to use with contrasting colored foliage.
Phormium 'Dark Delight' was introduced by Ms. Margaret Jones of Tauranga, New Zealand in 1979 and in our opinion is the best of the medium sized dark New Zealand Flax hybrids. It is similar but smaller and slightly darker than the magnificent Phormium 'Wildwood'. Unfortunately, we sold off our stock on this plant in 2007 and were never able to replace it with the true clone of 'Dark Delight' so we propagated and sold seedling from our garden planting of it as "Dark Delight Seedlings" and these were very close though not identical to the parent cultivar.
The information about Phormium 'Dark Delight' that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.
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