Most schools host tech monitoring the individual climatic pockets around town. In Victoria, we have a School-Based Weather Network. Mysteriously all the Kniphofia survived, leaves and all! Now I’m curious to know precisely which temperature induces their disintegration. Don’t get me wrong – there is something magical about a White Christmas – – but followed with a Green Boxing Day is perfection! photo by SVSeekins ) photo by SVSeekinsīy Boxing Day the snow was gone. (Fortunately, they come back in spring! Some Kniphofia are actually cold hardy to zone 5 – that’s to -25 C 🙂 I can’t you imagine them growing in the Tiffindel ski area of South Africa, but apparently that’s home. In my experience, snow cover is the tipping point when red-hot pokers disintegrate into a slimy mess. On Christmas Day the snow sparkled on the garden, stating to the world that winter is here. When it started to snow on Christmas Eve, I was concerned. In the cool overcast of autumn, these kniphofia flowers stand up much longer than our spring bloomers.
Who knew there were such varieties? And how can I get some? Its broad, strappy foliage looks like the Kniphofia that blooms in our garden in May– six months earlier. A blooming swath of red-hot pokers (aka torch lily, aka Kniphofia) caught my eye last November.
