The Whistling Gardener

by Steve Smith

Steve Smith is owner of Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville, located at 3915 Sunnyside Blvd., and a respected local expert on all things horticultural. You can reach Steve at 425-334-2002 or by e-mail at [email protected].

I confess that I have always been drawn to bold and dramatic plants. One stroll through my garden will leave no doubt in your mind that this is true. And one of those plants that I have forever been attracted to is the common Red Hot Poker, Kniphofia uvaria.

While there are many species of this South African native, traditionally it came in only one flavor with coarse grassy foliage and flower stalks that were topped with tubular flowers resembling Kraft macaroni and cheese, only in the colors of candy corn. Some of you that are familiar with pokers may consider them the poor white trash of perennials (that's sort of how I feel about daylilies). But nowadays you can find pokers in an assortment of colors and sizes and even bloom times. They have become refined.

There are many good reasons to grow pokers, sometimes also called torch lilies. They are completely drought tolerant and once established can make it through the summer with almost no additional water at all. Their flowers are a magnet for butterflies, hummingbirds and bees. They are pest- and disease-free, don't reseed everywhere and only need to be divided once every five years or so. No staking is required and a summer rain will not lodge them over. Average soil is all they ask for and in fact, if you give them too much TLC, they will not perform nearly as well. Perhaps their only drawback is that they don't bloom for very long, but even that is no longer a concern with the introduction of two new series, Solar Flare and Popsicle.

We are trialing six of these new introductions this year to see how they perform in the northwest. Terra Nova Nurseries in Oregon is the breeder for these plants and you can look up their website and find more information on these and other wonderful new introductions. Both of these series boast dwarf plants reaching only 20 inches tall with fine grassy foliage. While this habit takes away from their "bold" nature, it makes them far more suitable for today's smaller gardens. Perhaps the most exciting feature about them is that they bloom all summer starting around July and continuing until frost. No gardener can complain anymore about them being a flash in the pan. These guys are strong repeat bloomers and that is a huge plus in my book.

In the Solar Flare series, Ember Glow sports a bicolor yellow and orange flower and Fire Glow is orange and red. In the Popsicle series we have Creamsicle with creamy orange flowers, Papaya with a stronger orange hue, Mango, which is a more golden orange, and finally Pineapple, which is a pleasing yellow. You can get the idea from these names that these are warm to hot colored plants that will project a tropical feeling to your garden. Contrast them with some dark purple foliage or blue flowers and before you know it, someone might just offer you a Pina Colada with one of those little umbrellas in it.

Not counting the above varieties, I currently have five different pokers in my garden. Two I grow mostly for their Agave-like foliage, K. northiae with very broad leaves (3-5 inches across) and K. caulescens with wide striking blue foliage. The other three varieties I picked up last year in Oregon and they are all coming into bloom as we speak.

Alcazar is a tall orange-red one, St. Galen has 3-4 foot tall flowers that are solid orange and Percy's Pride which is a lemon-yellow and claims to bloom now through October. I almost forgot that years ago, when I had a rock garden, I had a sweet variety with light yellow flowers called Little Maid that only got one foot tall. And once upon a time, somewhere in my garden, I had an all red one (actually it was a persimmon red) called Nancy's Red, but I must have lost track of it because it is nowhere to be found.

So if you are looking for a tough perennial to add to your border that is bone hardy, drought tolerant, pest free, hummingbird and butterfly friendly, ever blooming and just plain easy to grow, then consider one of these new hybrid pokers. Even some of the older varieties that have a shorter bloom season are good additions too. You can find many of these varieties at most garden centers this time of year and it is a perfect time to plant them since they love the heat (like their native South Africa).

Steve Smith is owner of Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville and can be reached at

425-334-2002 or online at [email protected]