It’s hotter than bloody blue blazes in the Mile High (triple digits yesterday). And the perfect time to feature a plant that accurately describes those temps. Known as Kniphofia or sometimes called tritoma, they are commonly referred to as Poker Plant or Torch Lilies. These guys are part of the Liliaceae family and thrive in USDA zones 5-9. Classified as an upright evergreen perennial, native to Africa with a clumping habit, there are more than 70 known species. Producing copious amounts of nectar when blooming, poker plants are attractive to bees and hummingbirds. The swallowtail butterflies have been recently seen swooning around them.
These babies need room to spread (note to self, be sure to divide these guys this autumn-notice the one coming up in the Canadian shrub who has also become insane fairly large-yikes). Preferring full sun they are not fussy about our crummy soil. They do require good drainage and don’t like ‘wet feet’ so no planting in bogs, ‘kay?
Poker plants are hardy and moderately drought resistant although some regular water is required in order for them to reach their full potential. Make sure they received adequate water during hot, dry spells and providing a 2-3 inch layer of mulch will help. Deadheading will encourage more blooms. These guys can be divided in the autumn and their crowns should not be planted deeper than 3 inches. Water throughly upon division and liberally mulch and you should have a new plant next season. Just make sure you provide enough space (something I clearly misjudged when they were planted in a few years ago).
Now it’s time for me to enjoy an extra-large glass of well-iced lemonade and work from inside the house in air-conditioned bliss. I realize many of you have had very hot temps already with the high humidity so I’ll stop whining now. Ummm, after second thought, nope, no I won’t. I’ll just finish by saying, it’s too damn hot!
Have a great weekend and try to stay cool.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Those are cool-looking, but we’re in Zone 4 so we’ll have to enjoy them vicariously through you. 🙂
That’s so unfortunate because they’re so interesting.
I’ve seen those poker plants before and they’re rather striking, although they’re not common over here. Our garden resembles a desert or perhaps it’s more like a wasteland. We virtually live on beach sand and the dogs have torn up the backyard. Sometimes, I wonder whether we should give up on the lawn a pave the lot. Meanwhile, my husband has sown some grass seed and spread chicken wire over his patch of green. I think he’s become delusional.
Best wishes,
Rowena
I removed the grass years ago and replaced it all with perennials and ground covers amongst stone paths. Far less to manage and everyone comments on the {albeit somewhat wild} cottage garden look. Dogs and grass rarely go together. 😇
That plant has my favorite colors so it’s a big hit with me. Beautiful.
Those are gorgeous! They look like they are on fire. It is hot here and this weekend we are getting a Saharan dust storm. WTH?!?
Oh, those poker plants are very nice.
It has been incredibly hot here too. Mom won’t let us stay outside for very long at all. We want some cooler air.
Woos – Lightning, Misty, and Timber
LOVE the flowers and I agree….”it’s TOO DAMNED HOT!!” We are going to be 97 tomorrow…..(90s all week……UGH!)
We’re getting a reprieve of sorts this weekend but next week it’s back to scorch city 🔥
Oh my – it really has been bloody hot down there. I do love your Poker Plants. I’ve never seen them before. They’re beautiful.
Thanks…they seem to do well especially with not much water and in the heat. Enjoy a ‘cool’ Saturday. A nice reprieve till the 90’s + return next week.
I’ve never seen anything like that before. I love them though … and the insects and animals that are drawn to them!
They are striking in the landscape, that’s for sure. Their flowers really do resemble a torch. Happy weekend.
Extra large glass of…what was that? I didn’t hear you.
It’s too hot for anything alcoholic. Maybe a beer tomorrow 😊
Heresy!!!! Burn the witch!
LOL I’ll make up for it tomorrow when it’ll be decent for s day.
These are so cool looking! We’re probably at the edge of where they will grow. Perhaps I will look for some to put close to the house.
Good luck if you find some. You’ll be richly rewarded! So long as you’re in Zone 5 you should be ok but mulch will be a necessity.
Looking around I find that if Benji were any closer to the heater he’d be on top of it. Yes, it is cold – about 2c and probably a day temperature of 14c, which is still cold. Still a long way to go before we get some heat back in the place. Someone asked “What do you like about winter?” The answer = “When it’s over !” Enjoy your day and I love the flowers.
Haha. I think that comment applies to summer equally well. Have a great weekend. Ear scratches for Benji.
The Torch Lilies is pawesome, we wish it would grow here but alas we have boggy soil.
On these pizza oven hot days, a big actually sounds good. The humidity yesterday was just 7%.
Yup, headed to the mountains to escape the heat!
Enjoy it for us!
Those are interesting flowers. The first ones I saw around here, I thought were artificial. You’re flowers are beautiful!!! Hope it cools down a little bit. It’s supposed to be cold in the mountains, not 100+.
It may be a bit cooler today but the forecast is gearing to get back up there next week here and all over the country I think. When is autumn, again? 😌
Not soon enough. LOL
No kidding!
Beautiful, as always! Happy Friday!
Thanks. Stay cool this weekend!
well, if you’re dividing them anyway, I’d love one clump! It’s all just bushes here, and needs some hot poker color! LeeAnna PS we got the sun!
You got it! Expect a dump truck of divisions this Autumn.
Your flowers are lovely. We love those poker plants too and so do the birds♥
Many thanks, Wyatt and thanks for swinging by the Ranch. We 💖 visitors!
Mom never had any luck with the red hot pokers. They’re so pretty!
Sorry you weren’t lucky at this game of ‘poker.’ Mom pretty much ignores hers and somehow they survive. Thank you for swinging by our Ranch, we 💖 visitors, especially those of the Airedale variety!
Your fur-iends,
Sam & Elsa 🐾
That won’t work here. Arizona is in zone 28. I might fly up there to cool off.
Yeah, I don’t know how you guys survive down there. Come on up and cool off in the 105 degree cool. Blech (about these triple digits)!
It is fixing on getting too damn hot on the East Coast over the next week. Which makes it a good time for some of that ice cold lemonade and some AC comfort . . .
Torch lilies . . . I love that!
Seems like it’s hot all over (a record breaking 105 yesterday here). The ‘torch’ lilies seemed like the perfect floral Friday entry. Enjoy this weekend. Heard the 4th of July weekend is gonna be another scorcher.
It WAS perfect indeed!
Enjoy your 4th as well . . .
Try to stay cool! A frosty beer will go a long way this weekend I think. Or three. 🍺
A beer or several . . I dig!
Yay, I finally found someplace else that has these. Thanks for putting a name to the flower. We have torch lilies that have been blooming around our Marsh, but I haven’t been able to identify them until now!! Yours are beautiful!
Hope it cools off soon!
Thanks. I love these guys and enjoying seeing around other gardens too. When they get big, they are truly quite the specimens!
They look good. And maybe they would make a nice addition to our garden. I don’t know, though, if our deer would leave them alone. What I’m really looking for is something drought tolerant [if possuble no watering needed at all] and at the same time not only deer resistant but rather deer repellant.
I think you need aluminum if you want it to be no watering and deer repellant. LOL I know of nothing that is deer repellant short of a hunter.
LOL
But I must admit, sometimes we’re looking wistfully at cacti made of metal! 😀
While they are entertaining to watch, deer are a 4-legged wrecking crew on landscapes. The only thing I’ve ever seen that managed to co-exist are bearded irises.
Well, we’re learning by trial and error. 😉 What they definitely don’t like is Rosemary. And we have a mint plant they have never touched. As to shrubs: of course, there’s cacti [if you can call that a shrub] and Agaritas. The latter would be very good as they’re also really drought resistant. Currently I’m growing 2 in my nursery. We’ll simply put up with our “4-legged wrecking-crew”. 😉
It’s pretty much the only thing you can do. When you can’t lick ’em…enjoy ’em!
😉
These Poker Plants would look great in my cactus garden behind the house. (OK, so it was there when we moved in and it has continued to thrive because I ignore it.)
Benign neglect is the motto of our garden. Goodness knows I have never done anything to these plants and yet they still survive.
My kind of garden/plant!