Kniphofia uvaria Redhot Popsicle - Red Hot Poker

Kniphofia 'Redhot Popsicle' is part of a series of small-sized tritoma or red-hot pokers with a generous and long-lasting summer flowering. This excellent variety blooms in successive waves throughout summer, in a bright range of vermilion-red and salmon-orange. It forms a compact and low clump of very fine, grass-like shiny foliage that remains attractive all season. Its numerous inflorescences are dense spikes of small pendulous bells where butterflies and bees gather. It is a robust and cheerful perennial. Plant this water-saving red-hot poker in full sun, in well-drained soil.

Kniphofia 'Redhot Popsicle' belongs to the Asphodelaceae family. This compact variety is a recent hybrid obtained by cross-breeding various species native to southern and eastern Africa. It is a deciduous perennial with fleshy rhizomes, whose above-ground growth dries up in winter. It forms an upright, somewhat tousled clump with tough, very fine, slightly sharp grass-like leaves, reaching 50cm (20in) in height and 40 to 50cm (16 to 20in) in width. The flowering is particularly long, occurring from May-June to September, rising 70 to 80cm (28 to 32in) on bare stems above the foliage. The honey-bearing and nectar-rich inflorescence is a dense terminal cluster of tubular and pendulous flowers. They are initially bright red and evolve towards orange, in a gradient from top to bottom of the spike. The foliage forms a beautiful airy bunch, decorative outside of the flowering season.

Their exotic appearance already charmed our grandmothers. The new tritomas, with their numerous brightly coloured flowers, are even more decorative. Tritomas are surprising plants, yet very sturdy. They light up any garden with their colourful torches. Kniphofia 'Redhot Popsicle' will blend well in a large rock garden, paired with magenta red hollyhocks, common sage, or the blue-flowered Anchusa azurea 'Loddon Royalist', for example. Plant it with Penstemon 'Husker Red', Anthemis tinctoria 'Sauce Hollandaise', and Nepeta 'Purrsian Blue'. Tritomas pair well with perennials with light blooms. They can also be planted individually on a lawn, along a path by mixing colours, or combined with dwarf bamboos, compact cannas, and Lobelia tupa to create an exotic atmosphere.