Kniphofias, better known as red-hot pokers, come into their own when you plant them together, writes Jane Powers
There are some plants that are best thought of as pack animals. You need to see them in droves for them to make an impact on the landscape. In the animal kingdom, for example, a lone wildebeest is neither impressive nor good-looking. But multiply him (or her) into a herd and the seething, snorting mass of hoofs, horns and gnu flesh has a dynamism that takes your breath away.
Red-hot pokers are not unlike wildebeest. As singletons they are awkward-looking and improbable things - a conglomeration of rubbery tentacles stuck on to poles. But plant them en masse and their lumpish orange flower heads become a throng of fiery torches, held high and brandished with pride. Pokers and wildebeest become beautiful in repetition.
Both are natives of Africa, but we'll leave the ungulate there for the moment, and let it recover from the metaphor. Instead, let's concentrate on the plant. Kniphofia, to give it its proper name (after Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, an 18th-century German botanist and professor of medicine), grows in southern and tropical Africa, mainly in grassy uplands and mountainous regions. Most are from areas where there is high summer rainfall, so this year's sodden non- summer has been perfect for the genus. There are about 70 species (both evergreen and deciduous kinds) as well as more than 100 named cultivars. Red-hot pokers, or torch lilies (as they are occasionally called), hybridise freely, which means there are crowds of unnamed varieties circulating, as well as many with misapplied names.
Not all pokers are red, or even hot. Indeed, some gardeners turn their noses up at the classic (or vulgar, depending on the tilt of your beak) orangey-red kinds. For those who prefer something cooler, there are plenty in greenish, cream and lemony tones. 'Little Maid', which is one of the smallest Kniphofia cultivars (at about 45-60cm tall), has pale yellow flowers that age to a creamy white. The inflorescences are proportionately longer and more slender than those of most pokers, so it's an elegant thing - and an aesthetic world away from the big, molten brutes (which I admire but have no room for).
'Little Maid' was introduced by the British plantswoman Beth Chatto, who also produced 'Green Jade' - another cultivar displaying a certain svelteness and sophistication. Other pale and slim individuals include 'Brimstone', 'Bees' Lemon' and 'Percy's Pride' - the last has densely clad, pale-green flower spikes, and a long flowering season, from midsummer to mid-autumn. 'Wrexham Buttercup' is a much jauntier yellow than any of the above, as is the Irish-bred 'Yellow Hammer', raised at Slieve Donard Nursery, in Newcastle, Co Down. Kniphofia flowers may also lean towards caramel brown and apricot, as in 'Tawny King', 'Jenny Bloom', 'Timothy' and 'Toffee Nosed', to mention a handful.
But really, if you're looking for late-summer and autumn cheer, nothing can compete with the crash and clang of the big and brassy, club-headed varieties, such as K. rooperi and K. uvaria 'Nobilis'. The latter is one of the tallest, and may reach three or more metres.
K. uvaria, which comes from Western Cape, in South Africa, was the first poker species to be introduced to Europe, sometime in the 17th century. By 1690 it was being grown as a trophy plant by botanists and bigwigs in Holland. But 300 years later its progeny had moved so far downmarket that gardeners were briskly casting them out of their properties. On the Howth peninsula, in Co Dublin, for example, clumps of this unloved torch lily have naturalised on the cliff slopes around Lion's Head, jettisoned by choosy homeowners.
Noisy and pushy red-hot pokers such as these, however, have been partially rehabilitated over the past couple of decades by the late Christopher Lloyd. He used them enthusiastically at Great Dixter, especially in his "exotic garden", where he teamed them with red and orange dahlias (another flower he helped bring in from the cold), castor oil plants, bananas, cannas and other tropical-looking species. The cartoony blooms, with their neatly aligned tubes and rubber-glove texture, make Kniphofia an agreeable partner for the mannered, architectural foliage and flowers of the exotic-appearing plants listed above.
Yet let's not forget that pokers, despite their apparent willingness to associate with jungly plants, are grassland and scrubland species. In the garden, their plucky, unbending flower heads make a strong contrast when woven through a planting of wispy and kinetic ornamental grasses. A crowd of them marching across a grassy landscape, with their fiery brands held determinedly aloft, is a convincing illustration of their name of torch lily.
Perhaps it was the strategy of fighting like with like (in this case fire) that led to the tradition of the Basuto torch lily (K. caulescens) being planted next to dwellings in Lesotho to protect against lightning. The coral-and-yellow flower heads are fewer and more muscular than those of most pokers. The real attraction for gardeners is the hefty evergreen blue-grey foliage, and the strange snakelike way the stout stems writhe along the ground. If you peel off the previous year's papery leaves in spring you will reveal gorgeously gothic, striated, purple "trunks".
The foliage of most Kniphofia species is weak and grassy, and liable to bend sharply and inelegantly (plant them at the back of the border, where this characteristic is less noticeable). But another stately-leaved species, besides K. caulescens, is K. northiae, which makes giant rosettes of broad, blue-grey leaves and produces short, fat pokers. As with other evergreen plants that form colonies of wide, strappy leaves, this African acts as a dormitory for snails. This is not a bad thing, as the molluscs are tidily gathered in one place, and are easily collected and dispatched, if that is your wont. jpowers@irish-times.ieHOW TO CULTIVATE POKERS
In the wild, almost all Kniphofia grow in damp areas - but where there is good drainage, so they are not sitting continually in water. The worst enemy is winter wet, which may cause the rhizomes to rot. Pokers will not fare well in poorly drained clay soil. Give them a sunny position, rich, well-drained soil and plenty of moisture in summer. In cold areas, leave the old, tatty leaves on all winter, to protect the crowns. If you want to divide them, do so in spring, when the weather has warmed up a little. Most make good seaside plants, as they tolerate salt fairly well.
WHERE TO BUY
Good garden centres should have one or two kinds of Kniphofia; the following nurseries have several varieties.
- Camolin Potting Shed, Camolin, Co Wexford, 053-9383629, www.camolinpottingshed.com; open Thu-Sun afternoons until September 23rd
- Kilmurry Nursery, Ballymoney, Gorey, Co Wexford, 053-9480223, www.kilmurrynursery.com; open by appointment only
- Perennial Plant Nursery, near Ballymaloe, Co Cork, 021-4652122; open by appointment only