Kniphofia

KNIPHOFIA

            Every year the color gurus at Pantone, Inc. do all kinds of secret research to come up with the “Color of the Year,” which then inspires a multitude of merchandising initiatives.  Since I always aspire to be fashion forward, I make it my business to know the “Color of the Year.”  This year’s color is “Tangerine Tango,” a bright orange-red.  Now I can tango out to the garden and figure out how to incorporate the show-stopping hue in my planting scheme. 
            You can grab that color with both hands by investing in kniphofia, sometimes known as red hot poker or torch lily, which comes in shades of red, orange and yellow.  Kniphofia is taking a turn in the horticultural fashion spotlight right now, so planting a few might make you stylish enough to excite the neighbors. 
            You may have seen these hot-colored perennials in gardens.  Red hot pokers are anywhere from two to four feet tall, with long, slender basal leaves.  The “pokers” are racemes or flower spikes, cone-shaped clusters composed of scores of long, tubular flowers. They appear in summer at the tops of the leafless stalks.  Kniphofia uvaria, from which some current varieties are descended, has bright red flowers that tend to yellow with age. 
            Before kniphofia was kniphofia, it was known botanically as “tritoma,” and it was in vogue just after World War II.  My 1947 Wayside Gardens Catalog lists eight different varieties in an array of traditional colors, including four in yellow or gold shades and a pure white variety.  One plant, billed as the “New Giant Tritoma,” was described as rising to five or six feet in height with flower spikes twelve to fifteen inches tall.
            Sometime between then and now, taxonomists agreed to handicap kniphofia, with a difficult botanical name.  It honors Johannes Hieronymus Kniphof, an eighteenth century German doctor and botanist, who published an enormous plant compendium called Botanica in Originali.  Fortunately, modern gardeners are cosmopolitan enough to pronounce “Kniphofia” or smart enough to call it “red hot poker” and leave it at that. 
            In the United States a plant genus or species has only “arrived” if Terra Nova Nurseries, a wholesale nursery and plant breeding operation headquartered in Canby, Oregon, has adopted it.  Terra Nova’s owner and resident plant guru, Dan Heims, is the man responsible for putting millions of multicolored heuchera, tiarella and heucherella in American gardens.  He has shed new light on coreopsis and sedum and now, like Cecil B. DeMille, is giving kniphofia its close-up.
            These days, new plants are often introduced as part of themed series, which is the case with Terra Nova’s ‘Popsicle’ kniphofias.  All have fruity names, bestowed according to flower color.  They include, ‘Pineapple Popsicle’, ‘Creamsicle’, ‘Mango Popsicle’, ‘Orange Vanilla Popsicle’, ‘Papaya Popsicle’ and ‘Red Hot Popsicle’.  The Popsicle series plants are eighteen inches tall when in flower and fit comfortably in the middle of a mixed border.  If you want to get close to Pantone’s “tangerine tango,” pick ‘Papaya Popsicle’.  Terra Nova’s ‘Ember Glow’ and ‘Fire Glow’ are even shorter than the “Popsicle” types and make good container subjects.
            The English firm, Blooms of Bressingham, also carries a line of five red hot pokers. The newest of them, the intriguingly named ‘Elvira’ is a nice clear orange-flowered variety of medium height–about thirty inches tall.
            In addition to their fashionable colors, kniphofias have many virtues.  Once established, they are perennial and relatively drought tolerant, attractive to both butterflies and hummingbirds.  If you can get them away from those pollinators, they also make excellent cut flowers.  Most authorities classify the plants as deer resistant, though there are no guarantees when it comes to Mr. Antlers and the indiscriminate plant browsers of his tribe.
            Red hot pokers do best when installed in a sunny spot with good drainage.  If you have clay soil, like mine, amend it with large amounts of compost before planting.  Inserting bright orange into an established planting scheme can be tricky.  Kniphofias and similar orangey plants are best paired with other hot colors or with blues and purples, their color wheel opposites. 
            Come spring, kniphofia should be widely available at garden centers and mass merchandisers.  If you are tempted to join the orange rush, but aren’t sure about permanent commitment, buy one of the lighter-colored kniphofias and a packet of Mexican sunflower or tithonia seeds.  The kniphofia won’t clash with its neighbors and the Mexican sunflowers are annuals.  If you don’t like their orangey hue or need a change when next year’s color of the year is “Brindle Bisque,” you won’t have to worry.