Solar Flare is a tall red hot poker with bright, sunny yellow torches that hold their color well from bud to bloom. Rebloom carries the show late into the season.
It grows about 3 to 3½ feet tall and 2 to 2½ feet wide with an upright habit and grassy foliage. It adds a strong vertical accent to a sunny border, draws hummingbirds, and is seldom bothered by deer or rabbits.
What it looks like
Club-shaped flower spikes densely packed with tubular florets in bright, even sunny yellow, held on tall, stout, bare stems. Leaves are long, arching and grass-like in green, forming an upright clump. The plant grows about 36 to 42 inches tall in flower and 24 to 30 inches wide. Several spikes rise at once above the foliage. At peak the clump is topped with bright yellow torches of uniform color.
Growing it with lavender
Red hot poker likes the same full sun and sharp, lean drainage as lavender, and its upright spikes make a bold vertical contrast rising behind mounds of purple lavender in summer.
Care
Plant in full sun in well-drained soil, lean to average; it handles drought once established but will rot in soggy winter soil. Hardy in zones 6-9, and in colder spots a winter mulch and a sheltered, well-drained site help. Cut spent flower spikes at the base to encourage more blooms, and leave the foliage standing over winter, tidying it in spring.
At a glance
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Botanical name: Kniphofia
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Flower color: Bright sunny yellow
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Foliage: Green
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Growth habit: Upright clump of arching, grassy leaves
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Mature size: 36–42 in tall × 24–30 in wide
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USDA hardiness zones: 6–9
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Light: full sun
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Bloom start: Late-June
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Peak bloom: Mid-July
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Bloom pattern: Repeat Blooming
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Deer resistance: Moderately resistant
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Pollinator value: Excellent
Sizes and shipping
Dormant bare-root plant, sold in boxes of 25 per variety (order in multiples of 25). Bare-root plants ship or are picked up March 1–May 31 only. They are soil-free, so they may ship to every state in that window. Dormant plants often show little or no top growth on arrival; plant or heel them in promptly.