Kniphofia x
‘Naudes Nek’
at Digging Dog

Kniphofia

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 x ‘Naudes Nek’ 

We found this upbeat, not-yet-identified Kniphofia at Ernie and Marietta O’Byrne’s Northwest Garden Nursery in Eugene, Oregon. Originating from seed they had collected in Naudes Nek, a rather cold region of South Africa’s Drakensberg Mountains, it conveys a lighthearted charm with narrow, bright green channelled foliage and an intriguing floral display. Round-tipped, squat buds exhibit a glowing potpourri of colors from top to bottom: earthy brownish orange with chartreuse tinges, an amber midsection and a golden yellow base. The buoyant blooms elongate on slender green stems and turn more tangerine as they mature, showing off a happy face amid Thymus ‘Archer’s Gold’ and Geums.

Blooms August.

Size: 4' high x 2' wide; hardy to zone 7.

Kniphofia x Naudes Nek (P-1387)
Each $9.50
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