Well some roses and peonies only flower once a year but they're still hugely popular :)
Torch lilies
I love them and their uniqueness.
Everyone stops and points at them. My garden is unique on our street. No one really has any flowers here. The torch lilies stand out because people can't figure out what they are. Yesterday I was cleaning the windows in the livingroom as a couple was walking by. I saw them stop and point at the knifophia and actually spend several minutes talking. I would probably do the same thing myself because they are unusual.
I should probably do some further research on these to determine if the different knifophia have different bloom time to extend the season.
I think in recent years there has been a lot of work done on new varieties, extending both the colour range and blooming season. As far as I know you can get flowers from May to October depending on variety. If you remove the spent flower stalks you might get a late rebloom.
Here's Toffee Nosed from last year.
Sue
Maybe sometime we could do a small trade amoungst ourselves to expand the varities we have, if anybody is interested that is. I have flamingo (hope I spelled it right)
Kiiphofia, that is a beautiful color.
All the pictures posted here of your knifophias are so pretty! I can't wait until mine ever decide to bloom. I started them from seed in 2007 and they have the nicest clump of foliage. Very large. It stays green year round. Just no blooms yet.
I find this one very interesting: http://www.djroger.com/traffic_light_knifophia.htm If I see it somewhere for sale, I'm going to buy it. Does anyone have this small one?
If you deadhead Kniphofias will they rebloom? Haven't tried it myself, but wondering, as my blooms were short-lived this year. Anyone had theirs rebloom?
Kniphofia hirsuta is a small plant which is in bloom right now in my garden. I grew mine from seed from the NARGS seed exchange, also Silverhill Seeds carries it periodically, along with a lot of other kniphofia species. For plants of this and several other species, Ellen Hornig at Seneca Hills Nursery in upstate (read really cold) New York has quite a few of them for sale (and in her garden). Though not all species are equally cold hardy, a lot of them are, and I can imagine many more hybrids with more variety and reliable cold hardiness than what is available today can be produced in the future. Some species like K. northiae look like giant bromeliads--so far mine haven't bloomed yet but the leaves are amazing. Some species are small and graceful plants, others big and bold, and some like K. typhoides just plain wierd. Bloom time can be anywhere from June through October in this area, depending on what species or cultivar is being grown. They are not common in gardens around here, though that may be slowly changing--I do seem to find them in local nurseries, usually as generic unnamed hybrids. They do like sun, my K.northiae plants at home which get some shade are much weaker growing than some younger plants in my school garden which are probably only a season away from blooming, judging by their size. An added bonus, supposedly deer don't like them. Seeds are relatively easy to grow, they transplant easily, and aren't fussy plants, they just want sun and well drained (though not overly dry) soil.
Con are you near Tonawanda? I have friends out that way.
Hi Dpoitras,
I'm downstate, not far north of the Bronx border, right next to Yonkers. Our winter weather here is quite a bit more gentle than upstate. When I visited Ellen's nursery in Oswego, she had lots of unusual plants including several kniphofias growing in her garden. She believes that the heavy lake effect snow protects them thru the long hard winters. She also has some hardy Eucomis (pineapple lilies), also from South Africa, out in the garden, along with some hardy gladiolus species. Down here our snow cover is anything but reliable, but winter lows below 5F are rare, and I haven't seen below zero in many years. To give you an idea of some marginal plants that can survive here, salvia greggii hybrids and the small purple figs can make it thru most winters, but the former usually dies to the roots (then resprouts, less of them do make it thru a really cold winter but nearly all might in a warm winter, also depends a bit on which cultivar), the latter dies back in relatively cold winters like this last one, but did not die back for a couple of years before. I doubt either would make it thru winters in Tonawanda, but I also bet there is a kniphofia or two that could tolerate such cold.
We have temps below 0 often for short spells and usually not very good snow fall.
I don't trim mine back and it seems to mulch itself and keep protected. I cut the bad stuff off in the spring.
shining through the thunderstorm...
They really do light up a garden don't they?
I love the colour gradation on the blooms.
This is Timothy from last year.
I want Toffee Nosed so bad! That is definitely on my must have list for next year! I can't believe Plant Delights wants 18 dollars for one plant! Do any of you know another source for that plant that doesn't gouge people?
Mine are in bloom now, but my flowers are not as tall as alot of these that are in the pics.
I don't know what variety it is, I have had it forever.
Blooms are on the yellow side no red at all. I have shared lots of cutting of it. I didn't know there were different varieties. I will have to look them up.
I was researching to find out that the various torch lillies available, and found this chart. If you have different varieties, they can bloom all summer long.
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/tritoma.html
Here's a new Kniphofia that I picked up recently...a new introduction from PlantHaven called 'Peachy Cheeks.'
This little one is only about a foot tall.
Garry,
I just got one of those Peachy Cheeks kniphofias, too. Almost looks like the Toffee doesn't it?
Yeah...I thought the same thing when I saw it.....looks similar to 'Toffee Nosed' which I've always liked but have never come across in any of the nurseries besides mailorder. This should stay a bit smaller than 'Toffee Nosed' which is fine by me. Kniphofias seems to stay neater and be tidier the smaller they are.
Mostly yellow now...close to the end of the show.
I got a new flamenco today at the farmer's market.
the tag said "Flamenco" mix - what does that mean?
I would say that is your variety. Kniphofias are sold as poker plants, torch lilies, red hot poker plants etc. but then in different varieties like flamenco, peachy cheeks, toffee nosed etc to differentiate the colors. Easier to remember than kniphofia porphyrantha or kniphofia citriana for example.
I thought it was the cultivar and the mix meant different varieities (meaning different cultivars)?? or am I confused.....
I believe that your particular Flamenco is part of a mixed color group. http://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/ProductDetails.asp?ProductID=1766
Khiphofia uvaria 'Flamenco' is a seed strain hybrid kniphofia. Seeds of this kniphofia produce plants with a mixture of different flower colors in red, orange, yellow, and pastel shades as well. The plants offered at your market were probably a mix of these different possible colors. If it was in flower when you purchased it, you already know what color flower your plant will produce. If it wasn't in flower when you purchased it, only time will tell. It's also possible that more than one flower colors will emerge from the plant that you purchased if the clump was produced from more than one seed. Again, only time will tell. It's a terrific plant!
I gotta say that I purchased Toffee Nosed from PDN last fall. The price made me wait for a while until I couldn't stand it any more...It may have been pricey, but it's blooming now...sorry, dh lost BOTH of my cameras...and I haven't regretted it. I suppose the compulsion is worse since I live so close to the nursery. That's my story and I stickin' to it, lol!
Very nice pics, y'all! Love that Timothy.
Here's a strange one ... anyone ever seen this? You can see the stems are twined around each other and the blooms seem to be connected. Weird!
Actually one of my plants did this last year. Two for the price of one!
Interesting! Siamese torch lilies :)
My last group of torch lilies are blooming now. These are shorter than the others. I have no idea which cultivar any of them are. They are in their third year.
These sit on the hillside in front of the monarda, and behind the rose bushes which are pooping out right now - the roses look great for a few weeks, and then they look terrible, and then back to great.
One last shot. This is almost the same exact picture that I had from last year.
I've been checking this thread admiring everyone's gorgeous photos.I have been hoping to hear people in colder zones like mine say they have sucess with Kniphofias as perennials. I started some from seed and planted a few roots and one container plant. Keeping my fingers crossed they come back next year. I don't know if they will bloom this year, but I'm hopeful. : )
Some kniphofias are listed as hardy to zone 5, but it depends on the species, as well as the cultivar. Do you know the species and/or cultivar? To my knowledge, they won't bloom the first year from seed, but you should have some blooms next year....and then more and more each year as the clump becomes more substantial. To improve chances of winter survival, it's recommended to tie the leaves tightly together in the fall to avoid water entering the crown of the plant which can lead to rot. In the spring, cut the foliage down to about an inch or so from the ground Good luck.
Meredith you can only try. In Maine I wasn't very successful overwintering them but I persevered because I love them so much. I was happy to have them as annuals!
Thanks guys, I've heard people in the Northeast forum say they haven't been successful with trhem as perennials. I don't usually see them for salearound here, some might say it's because they aren't hardy. But I grow many things from seed that have been very hardy here and have never seen for sale at a nursery. I am hoping between the 3 varieties I planted and the dozen or so plants I grew from seed, one will come back next year. I will plan to tie them up for winter. I might dig half of the ones I grew from seed and stor. We'll see how busy of a fall I endup having. One weird thing I noticed, it looks like I have glads that weren't supposed to be hardy ones, that overwintered. It was a very cold winter that got down to -15F & -10F for a stretch. But we had good snow cover, so I guess that would help.
In addition to tying them up, be sure to apply a good layer of mulch around them as well. This will help to ensure better survivability. Good luck.
Okay thanks!