Kniphofia rooperi

Kniphofia rooperi, Rooper's Red Hot Poker, is a magnificent Kniphofia with tall inflorescences that are a luminous orange and yellow and seem to glow in the soft autumnal air like a beacon or a lighthouse. Each individual flower bud is usually tipped with green before it opens adding to the sense of pulsating colour. The evergreen foliage is long and linear and deeply keeled and often folds down at an angle on itself giving the impression of a large green spider stalking through the garden.

A late-flowering species, Kniphofia rooperi starts coming into bloom in September, lasting well into October and often into the darker days of November. Like all Kniphofias it likes a rich loamy but well-drained soil and although drought-resistant it appreciates plenty of water in the growing season.