Kniphofia 'Lemon Queen'
Kniphofia 'Lemon Queen'• 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 and July
• height: 3 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: 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
To quote Jane Taylor in “The Plantsman,” “...an old cultivar, mentioned as long ago as 1902 (The Garden); a seedling of K. citrina producing in August dense spikes of lemon yellow flowers, green-tinted at first, fading to silver; 90cm (36 in.). It received an Award of Merit at the Wisley trials in 1929, and is I believe still in cultivation.” Kniphofia 'Lemon Queen' flowers here in coastal Washington State in June and July and its colors are a pure lemon yellow. It is extraordinarily strong growing. USDA Zones 6 - 10, and Zone 5 with protection over winter.