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Asphodelaceae
Red Hot Poker
Kniphofia uvaria
Bold confidence.
- Family
- Asphodelaceae
- Genus
- Kniphofia
- Native to
- South Africa
- Bloom season
- Summer, Fall
- Type
- perennial
- Height
- 3-5 ft
- Sunlight
- full sun
- Soil
- well-drained, sandy to loamy
- Water
- moderate
- Hardiness
- 5-9
- Lifespan
- perennial
Did you know
- Each flower spike opens from the bottom up, creating a gradient from red at the top to yellow at the base as blooms mature.
- Sunbirds in South Africa are its natural pollinators, but in North America, hummingbirds have adopted the role.
- The genus is named after Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, an 18th-century German physician and botanist.
- A single mature clump can produce over 20 flower spikes in one season, each lasting up to three weeks.
- The plant survived unchanged through the last ice age in protected South African valleys, making it a living fossil of sorts.
Color meanings
0
boldness
1
attraction
2
exotic beauty