Kniphofia Dwarf Scarlet
Notify MeScarlet at half the usual height. This compact Kniphofia throws up short stout spikes densely set with tubular flowers in a clear hot red, held on stems barely taller than the surrounding foliage, so the colour sits within a border rather than above it. The leaf fan is narrow, arching and grey-green, and stays presentable through most of the year. It flowers from December into March.
Red at this scale is useful in a hot planting scheme, alongside achillea, salvias and bronze grasses, and it holds its own in a gravel garden or on a dry sunny bank. It also grows well in a wide container. Native nectar feeders including tūī and bellbirds visit the flowers, so a group is better than one plant.
Plant it in the sunniest, best-drained ground you have. Pokers store water in thick fleshy roots and those roots rot in cold wet soil, which is the single most common reason one disappears over winter. Clay needs grit dug through it, or a raised bed. Set plants 40 cm apart, and split congested clumps in spring.
Forms a clump around 0.6 m tall and 0.6 m across.
Trimming: Remove each flower stem at its base once the spike has finished. Tug away browned outer leaves through the season instead of shearing. Give the clump a proper tidy in late winter.
Deadheading: Worth doing as each spike goes over, both for appearance and because it sometimes brings a second, smaller flush later in summer.
Fertilising: One application of general fertiliser at the start of spring is all it asks. Feeding harder produces a bigger leaf fan and fewer flower spikes.
Watering: Water in over the first summer and then step back. This is one of the better perennials for a bank or a hot strip that never sees the hose.
Pest Control: Slugs and snails go for the new spikes as they push up, so deal with them before flowering rather than after. Thrips occasionally streak the flowers in dry weather.
Disease Management: Rot at the crown after a wet winter is the main risk, and it is prevented by drainage rather than treated. Spotting on the leaves in humid conditions is cosmetic and the marked leaves can be pulled off.
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