Kniphofia 'Roman Candle'
Kniphofia 'Roman Candle'• Click here to visit our Main Plant List page for current availability of this plant
• common names: torch lily, red-hot poker
• flowering season: July
• height: 3 feet
• Light requirements: full sun, half a day of sun will do
• Soil requirements: average to rich and well drained
• Water requirments: will survive in a dry landscape although it will grow better and flower more profusely with weekly deep watering during summer
• Growth habit: a slowly widening clump
• How to propagate: divide in spring or early summer
• Leaf type: narrow and moderately long
• Ways to use it: grows well with other flowering perennials in the sunny garden; grows well in a large pot on a terrace or deck where it will attract hummingbirds up close to you house
• Special characteristics: its upright, spiky flowers have lots of character and are a focal point among other flowering plants, especially contrasting nicely with mounding and cushion shaped perennials; it doesn't need much care once planted other than regular watering; gardeners in climates colder than USDA Zone 6 should give it winter protection such as covering with a mulch or a large basket turned upside down and weighed down with a large rock on top
• Other points of interests: its flowers produce lots of nectar that attracts both hummingbirds and various songbirds that will cling to the stems to sip the nectar
In case you are wondering what a Roman candle is, it is an elongated cylinder that shoots out jets of sparks and fireballs. The shape of this plant's flower spike is especially long and tapering when well grown. Flowering in July with stems to three feet, it was introduced by us in 1997. The top is scarlet with older, lower flowers turning to orange and then to a light yellow. In this torchlily the transition among the colors is subtle and gradual. USDA Zones 6 - 9, and to zone 10 in the West.