Kniphofia
Torch Lily or Red Hot Poker
“Red Hot Poker” is the local nickname for these bold handsome natives of Madagascar and tropical South Africa. Brought to England in 1707, they were kept as greenhouse treasures until 1848, when someone had the bright idea of planting them outdoors, and their abiding hardiness was discovered. The old-fashioned orange and yellow form has survived years of neglect in abandoned gardens here on the coast; the new hybrids and species we offer, in versatile creamy-yellows, chartreuses, soft melons and louder colors, are more suitable to modern schemes, but are just as hardy and reliable. The thick, almost succulent leaf blades are mostly evergreen, and of interest even when the cylindrical flower spikes are absent. Heat and drought tolerant.
Counting orioles, hummingbirds, and studied gardeners among its fans, ‘Dorset Sentry’ brandishes big fat green buds and even larger plump acid yellow torches on beefy, bronze-toned upright stalks. A green bed of toothed bladelike leaves anchors the sun-struck blooms that last for months and bridge the gap between summer and fall. Selected by a John May, this moderately sized Kniphofia breathes enthused late season energy into the garden and can flank a pathway, stand sentinel at a threshold, or occupy a midborder position.
Blooms July–September.
Size: 3' 0" high x 2' 0" wide.
Hardy to zone 7.
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Other selections in this genus:
- Kniphofia albescens
- Kniphofia ‘Alcazar’
- Kniphofia ‘Bees Lemon’
- Kniphofia ‘Bees Sunset’
- Kniphofia ‘Bleached Blonde’
- Kniphofia ‘Border Ballet’
- Kniphofia ‘Bressingham Sunbeam’
- Kniphofia caulescens
- Kniphofia citrina (Lime Select)
- Kniphofia ‘Cobra’
- Kniphofia ‘Coral’
- Kniphofia galpinii ‘Orange Flame’
- Kniphofia ‘Gladness’
- Kniphofia ‘Glow’
- Kniphofia ‘Goldfinch’
- Kniphofia ‘Green Jade’
- Kniphofia ‘Ice Queen’
- Kniphofia ‘Incandesce’
- Kniphofia ‘Jan Brennan’
- Kniphofia ‘Light of the World’
- Kniphofia linearifolia
- Kniphofia ‘Lye End’
- Kniphofia ‘Minister Verschuur’
- Kniphofia ‘Moonstone’
- Kniphofia ‘Nancys Red’
- Kniphofia x ‘Naudes Nek’
- Kniphofia ‘Painted Lady’
- Kniphofia pauciflora
- Kniphofia ‘Percy’s Pride’
- Kniphofia ‘Safranvogel’
- Kniphofia ‘Safranvogel’ x ‘Maid of Orleans’
- Kniphofia ‘Shining Sceptre’
- Kniphofia sp. (Patricia Marrow)
- Kniphofia ‘Sunningdale Yellow’
- Kniphofia ‘Tawny King’
- Kniphofia ‘Timothy’
- Kniphofia uvaria ‘Candle Light’
- Kniphofia uvaria ‘Malibu Yellow’
- Kniphofia uvaria ‘Tower of Gold’
- Kniphofia ‘Vanilla’
- Kniphofia ‘Wayside Flame’
- Kniphofia ‘Wol’s Red Seedling’
- Kniphofia ‘Yellow Cheer’
- Kniphofia ‘Yellow Hammer’