Kniphofia Species, Lesotho Red Hot Poker, Torch Lily, Tritoma

I grow the 'John May' selection of this plant in my zone 8b garden. It has gorgeous blue/green foliage and looks very exotic. I would gro...Read Morew this plant for its foliage alone but I get the added bonus of large coral 'pokers' appearing in autumn.

I have seen footage and pictures of this Kniphofia growing along the edges of streams in South Africa but I grow it alongside Opuntia, Yucca, Hesperaloe and Agave in my arid bed and it seems to cope with the very well drained conditions ( raised bed, 6'' - 12'' gravel and extremely well drained soil, sand and gravel mix below).However, a little extra irrigation for this plant is provided during very hot, dry weather (unfortunately not that common in England, though).

It's an evergreen plant that has dealt brilliantly with the slushy, wet, freeze/thaw snow and weeks of cold, wet weather that we get in a typical English winter. The foliage reaches about 2' tall, and the plant forms clumps. The flowers are held 1' or so above the foliage. I have found that snails seem to enjoy hiding in the middle of the clumps of foliage and have taken a liking to rasping away at the leaves. The don't manage to put holes in the leaves but they do make unsightly marks.

Saw this plant in England last summer and was able to find it here in NC. In UK the plant had bright blue green foliage, here its more g...Read Morereen but the plant looks great and has its first flowers!

Broad leaves and orange inflorescences are as near as cold winter gardeners can come to aloes. Very impressive planted in groups of 3...Read More-5 or even larger beds. I recommend mulching heavily the first winter, but it seems to be nearly indestructible once established.Although the frequent hailstorms in my area do considerable damage, the plant always recovers quickly. This is absolutely one of my favorite plants!