Drought Tolerant Plant: Flax

Last week, there were some questions about what plant was in the Look! Planting in Rows post. Well, it's flax and it comes in a bunch of different sizes and colors. We took some time to see how other people have been using them, jump below for some views from the neighborhood:

That last photo is from a local nursery. When you go in, find the full sun area and then check out the different flaxes. Some grow up to 9 feet tall and some will stay a foot tall. All of them like a lot of sun, well drained soil and aren't too demanding in terms of water use. If you choose a smaller version you'd probably be able to get away with keeping it in a container as long as it was getting lots of sunlight!

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The fifth picture down the plants are actually cordylines, which like phormium come in a variety of colors and have strap leaves. The major difference is that the cordylines grow a trunk and some can get up to 30' tall. They look a lot like phormium when they are young and their trunks are short.

I just finished completing a job where we designed a rooftop garden on a hotel with a variety of ornamental grasses, including dwarf flax, sedges and fescues. Cordylines were one of the options thrown into the hat but it was decided they would block the view too much as they grew taller.

Love the flax and cordylines. Went to Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria yesterday--check out their website and look on the tour of each garden, particularly the Austrailian one.