Kniphofia Nancy’s Red at Digging Dog Nursery |

Kniphofia ‘Nancy’s Red’
at Digging Dog

Torch Lily or Red Hot Poker

“Red Hot Poker” is the local nickname for these bold, handsome natives of Madagascar and tropical South Africa. Brought to England in 1707, they were kept as greenhouse treasures until 1848, when someone had the bright idea of planting them outdoors, and their abiding hardiness was discovered.

The old-fashioned orange and yellow form has survived years of neglect in abandoned gardens here on the coast; the new hybrids and species we offer, in versatile creamy yellows, chartreuses, soft melons and bolder colors, are more suitable to modern schemes, but are just as hardy and reliable. The thick, almost succulent leaf blades are evergreen, and of interest even when the cylindrical flower spikes are absent. Heat and drought tolerant.

Kniphofia ‘Nancy’s Red’

Looking for a midsized plant to accentuate a hot-colored border or ignite a cooler one? ‘Nancy’s Red’ may be your girl. Delicate olive-green stems lift brick-red buds and waxed, dusky coral-red florets, which become more pendulous with age, flaring out to reveal creamy yellow tips. Shaded in such rich colors, the slender, somewhat open cone-shaped blooms achieve an ardent contrast against low growing, narrow green leaves.

Clearly in a class of her own—undemanding, flamboyant yet refined and well groomed—Nancy gives you good reason to entice her into your garden bed and keep her where she’s easily seen.

Blooms July–August.

Size: 2' high x 18" wide; hardy to zone 6.