Kniphofia 'Gold Else'
Kniphofia 'Gold Else'• Click here to visit our Main Plant List page for current availability of this plant
• common names: “torch lily,” “red-hot poker”
• flowering season: June
• height: 2 or 2½ feet
• Light requirements: full sun, half a day of sun will do
• Soil requirements: average to rich and well drained
• Water requirments: will survive in a dry landscape although it will grow better and flower more profusely with weekly deep watering during summer
• Growth habit: a slowly widening clump
• How to propagate: divide in spring or early summer
• Leaf type: narrow and moderately long
• Ways to use it such as in a pot or otherwise: grows well with other flowering perennials in the sunny garden; grows well in a large pot on a terrace or deck where it will attract hummingbirds up close to you house
• Special characteristics: its upright, spiky flowers have lots of character and are a focal point among other flowering plants, especially contrasting nicely with mounding and cushion shaped perennials; it doesn't need much care once planted other than regular watering; gardeners in climates colder than USDA Zone 6 should give it winter protection such as covering with a mulch or a large basket turned upside down and weighed down with a large rock on top
• Other points of interests: its flowers produce lots of nectar that attracts both hummingbirds and various songbirds that will cling to the stems to sip the nectar
Also spelled, 'Goldelse.' With a low height of two or two and a half feet, this is an old variety dating from 1908 that according to British Kniphofia authority, Jane Taylor, is a primary hybrid between the two species, pauciflora and citrina. The color is a light yellow. For us it flowers in early summer. Another similarly low and yellow torchlily, 'Brimstone,' flowers here at the end of summer. USDA Zones 6 - 10.