Plant in full sun to light shade. Can tolerate fairly dry conditions (coastal) but looks best with occasional to regular irrigation. Hardy to 15-20 F. Possibly root hardy below these temperatures but with severe foliage damage unless protected. A beautiful medium sized red flax with wide leaves that has remained one of our favorites since it was introduced in the U.S. 1985. We have plants in the ground at the nursery that are 20 years old and still have beautiful foliage and are not oversized for the plantings.

Phormium 'Maori Chief' was a selection made by Margaret Jones of Tauranga, NZ in 1981 from seedlings grown from "Rainbow Hybrids" seed (A result of crossing Phormium 'Maori Maiden' with P. tenax 'Atropurpureum'). This plant was originally introduced as Phormium 'Maori Chief' but in New Zealand there has been a tendency to replace the word "Maori" with "Rainbow" or leaving the word Maori off completely so this plant is often listed as Phormium 'Rainbow Chief' or just Phormium 'Chief'. The original names by which these plants were described and published should be considered the valid name and the revised names only as synonyms. We first received this plant in 1983 and grew it until closing the nursery in 2025. 

The information displayed on this page about Phormium 'Maori Chief' is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.