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. When at its best it is a very nice dark strap leafed plant that can look great in the garden or in a container.

Phormium 'Platt's Black' was selected by Mr. Graeme Platt of Platt's Nursery in Auckland from seed collected from Phormium 'Black Knight'. When we first saw this plant growing in New Zealand it was absolutely the darkest of all the New Zealand Flax and we had to have it. It must have been the cooler New Zealand climate however as it seemed to languish in southern California and with age losses its dark coloration and older plants are a dark bronze color with new flushes of darker foliage.

We first brought in this plant after acquiring it from Graeme Platt in 1993 and spent the next ten years bulking it up to sell between 2003 and 2013 before discontinuing it. The patented Phormium Black Adder ['FIT01'] was selection from a tissue culture of this cultivar, but it too has older leaves that revert to a greenish bronze color. 

The information about Phormium 'Platt's Black' 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.