Phormium 'Golden Ray' is a distinctive and handsome New Zealand flax cultivar with an upright to semi-arching habit and attractive variegated foliage that typically has a broad green central band running on either side of the midrib and on either side of that a narrower stripe of yellow finishing in a dark bronzy-red margin. Thinner multiple stripes of yellow are often seen on individual leaves. In late winter and early spring it often develops a reddish-pinkish-apricot tinge that turns back to the regular colouration as the growing season progresses.

A colourful bright plant, it brings a splash of all-year-round colour to a tropical bed and provides a strong architectural strappy-leaved presence when combined with plants with larger contrasting foliage or the sinuous shapes of tall grasses. The colouration is more distinctly yellow than the creamy tones of Phormium colensoi 'Cream Delight' and Phormium colensoi 'Tricolor'

A medium-sized Phormium, 'Golden Ray' will form an attractive arching clump, growing between one and two metres in height and width.

Like all Phormiums it does best in full sun with a moist but well-drained soil, keeping it well-watered during the summer months. Don't let it dry out during the summer.