Phormium Tenax Red Sensation Flax Lily

Phormium Tenax Red Sensation (Flax Lily) is a beautiful evergreen perennial grass with strap-like purple-red leaves and red flowers on tall spikes during summer. It’s excellent for coastal or prairie planting and sunny low-maintenance spaces.

Phormium Tenax is native to New Zealand’s coast, where its long and strappy windproof leaves provide cover for animals including New Zealand’s endangered yellow-eyed penguin. It’s better known as Flax Lily in the UK and the cultivar Red Sensation was bred to provide real impact. Its leaves are rigid and arching in line with the phormium genus, but they are a rich red-purple shade. If it absorbs enough heat and sunshine in summer, tall red flower spikes emerge from the mound forming foliage clump from August to September.

Flax Lily Red Sensation is a tough ornamental grass that suits sun-soaked flower borders and containers. It’s an excellent coastal plant and ground cover.

Height And Spread of Phormium Tenax Red Sensation
Phormium Red Sensation reaches a height and spread of one metre.

How Hardy Is Phormium Tenax Red Sensation
It’s a hardy perennial evergreen grass, but it needs very well-drained roots and a mild climate to thrive.

How to Use Phormium Tenax Red Sensation
Flax Lily Red Sensation is a good choice for drought-prone gardens or low-maintenance coastal and Mediterranean spaces because it thrives in dry situations with lots of sun, and it’s tolerant of salt spray. It’ll also grow in a well-watered and fed container on a sunny balcony, patio, or doorstep.

Try pairing it with RHS AGM-winning Flax Lily Sundowner or Pink Stripe as part of a prairie border with lots of colour and movement.

How To Care For Phormium Tenax Red Sensation
Phormium Red Sensation needs well-drained soil such as chalk and sand that are often found in its native coastal areas. Choose a spot in full sun and avoid frost pockets or consistently soggy soil. Red Sensation will flower if it absorbs enough heat and sun so the more you can give it, the better.
As winter approaches apply a thick layer of protective mulch around the crown to keep the worst of winter rain at bay and prune out any damaged leaves right down to the crown to encourage airflow. Flax lilies growing in a container should always be raised on feet to encourage good drainage.