to get the best colouration from this species they relly do need sun light, It's a pity with the hot weather we had this summer they couldn't have access to an out door section for a week or so.
one of my old P.m.grandis escaped from the shed I kept my animals in once and lived out all summer evading capture until one day he fell asleep on the side of the shed under a phormium leaf that was shading him and I was able to cover him with a clear plastic box on a stick. He looked the most brilliant green I had ever seen.
to get the best colouration from this species they relly do need sun light, It's a pity with the hot weather we had this summer they couldn't have access to an out door section for a week or so.
one of my old P.m.grandis escaped from the shed I kept my animals in once and lived out all summer evading capture until one day he fell asleep on the side of the shed under a phormium leaf that was shading him and I was able to cover him with a clear plastic box on a stick. He looked the most brilliant green I had ever seen.
Its rather odd to hear the term "phormium", I've never heard it used as a general word before. I assume you are referring to NZ Flax (Phormium sp.), are they not called NZ flax or similar in the UK? I remember seeing many of them in UK (and other European) gardens and thinking it was neat to see them growing on the other side of the world.
They are known as both in the UK but phormium doesn't allow for any mistaken identity, we aslo have an annual flax which could compound the issue. I believe in NZ they grow in damp ground is that right?
Here they grow anywhere, but aren't 100% hardy a lot of the ones I tend in my gardens suffered dreadfully in the winter of 2009/10 to the point of dying out the following year.
We had a few large ones here at home, but they trap a lot of birds especially young songbirds who slide down into the centres and can't get out and struggle to death. We often found them flapping away in vain and had to release them, needless to say I grubbed them out for safety sake.
They are known as both in the UK but phormium doesn't allow for any mistaken identity, we aslo have an annual flax which could compound the issue. I believe in NZ they grow in damp ground is that right?
Here they grow anywhere, but aren't 100% hardy a lot of the ones I tend in my gardens suffered dreadfully in the winter of 2009/10 to the point of dying out the following year.
We had a few large ones here at home, but they trap a lot of birds especially young songbirds who slide down into the centres and can't get out and struggle to death. We often found them flapping away in vain and had to release them, needless to say I grubbed them out for safety sake.
That makes sense. In NZ P. tenax grows mostly in swamps, while P. cookianum is more of an alpine species. But they are extremely common garden and landscaping species, and often are found in farmland too.
I'm really surprised that birds get trapped in them, I've never heard of that before. But I can certainly imagine it happening to fledglings.
