Poker player
Red hot pokers are making a deserved gardening comeback, writes David Overend.
You’ve seen them, you might have coveted them – and now September is here, so is your chance to grow them. Kniphofia, the red-hot poker, was once grown widely but then became a victim of the craze for muted colours. Anything approaching vibrancy was banished to the back of the border or else dug up and consigned to the compost bin. How the mighty are fallen.
But times and fashions change – and the red-hot poker is making a comeback, with several varieties, such as ‘Lucifer’ making a big impact.
‘Lucifer’ is vivid red, tall and spreads to form mighty clumps which, come late summer, are impossible to ignore. The plant’s great, sword-shaped leaves are a clue to the fact that it’s a cousin of the gladiolus and just about every garden now seems to have ‘Lucifer’ – and the equally stunning ‘Bees’ Sunset’ -somewhere in a border.
But it’s not all red – ‘Wrexham Buttercup’ is a classic herbaceous border plant and its bright yellow flowers are tipped with orange. Bees love them.
Kniphofia love the sun – site them in a shady spot and they will produce lots of foliage but few flowers. And that foliage can become very untidy in late summer so it’s best to cut it back hard in autumn when it starts to yellow, and divide established clumps every three or four years.
On the whole, red-hot pokers won’t tolerate water-logging but will cope with drier soils, at the foot of a wall or near a hedge, for example.
An annual mulch around the base of the clump (but not over the crown) of wellrotted manure or garden compost will help boost fertility and moisture retention. In colder gardens, young plants can be given a little extra protection with a mulch of straw or dry leaves.
If you haven’t given the plant a goingover in autumn, give it a good spring-clean, removing any dead and decaying leaves. The spent flower spikes should also be cut during spring, making sure they are taken out at the base – the dry and jagged remains of old flower spikes harbour pests such as earwigs and woodlice.
Established plants can be divided in late spring. Sow seed – any time from September to October – on the surface of a decent compost and leave it uncovered.