Kniphofia 'Torch Light'
Kniphofia 'Torch Light'• 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 and August
• 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
The unusual characteristic of this light yellow flower is the way each single floret is held out horizontally from the flowerstalk. And as they age, the older florets continue to be held out horizontally, not lowering themselves as happens with the majority of other torch lilies. The plant's height is in the range of three feet. And its season of bloom starts in late June and continues into July and early August. Morning Glory Farms, a wholesale grower in Stanwood, Washington selected and named Kniphofia 'Torch Light.' USDA Zones 7 - 9, and to zone 10 in the West.