Walking down the street, what do I see? New Zealand flax. Up on the ridge what do I find, swept over with wind? New Zealand flax. Yes, phormium really does grow here in New Zealand. I’ve also seen a lot of hebes on my first day down under.  When I got off the plane in Auckland I smelled fried donuts and the sea, a good combination.  A couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw aeonium growing as a perennial here! We grow it as an annual in the greenhouse, it’s a plant that looks like it’s from Jupiter, with all its strange shapes.