Red hot poker 'Percy's Pride'
Kniphofia 'Percy's Pride' · Asphodelaceae
Large pokers of cool, greenish-yellow that fade to cream, in late summer and early autumn.
- Size
- 3½ ft tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 6 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Late July to mid September
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Accent
A bed built around red hot poker 'Percy's Pride'
The planner designed this bed around red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) cottage garden in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' × 3, green
- 2 Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies' × 19, pink
- 3 Winter heath × 5, white
- 4 Gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer' × 8, yellow
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Grecian windflower × 8, blue
- 7 Schubert's allium × 4, pink
Why this plant
- The only spires. The others are open bowls, bells, daisies and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only green. Green sits between stronger colours and calms them.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 3½ ft it is the tallest plant here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer' (3 ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one clump. A single spire is too slight to hold a place alone, so here the accent is a clump.
Why now
- In flower for 9 weeks. From late July to mid September.
- Part of the bed's peak. With gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer' in late July: 2 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as a cottage garden: 29 of the 36 plants (81%), bulbs aside, stand alone or in groups of no more than five, small enough for the kinds to mingle. In winter there are still Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies' and winter heath to look at. The back corners are held by red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' and gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer', the tallest plants on the plan.
The planner's own design check: 11 Excellent, 6 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' goes in a border
At 3½ ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is moderately tall (3 to 4 ft).
Its job: accent. An upright plant used singly, like a punctuation mark, and repeated at intervals to give the bed rhythm.
A green-yellow poker is far easier to place than a red one: it cools down hot colours and sharpens blues and purples. Protect the crown in cold winters.
- Cool-coloured vertical accents
- Late-summer borders
- Cutting
What to plant with red hot poker 'Percy's Pride'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Tall verbena: purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for nine weeks.
- Russian sage: in flower together for eight weeks, from late July.
- Blue oat grass: flowers first, early June to early July, so the spot is never empty; a low mound at the foot of its spires.
Questions about red hot poker 'Percy's Pride'
Does red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' need sun or shade?
Red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, of average fertility, and little watering once settled.
What zones does red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' grow in?
USDA zones 6 to 9. It is hardy to zone 6, which means it survives winter nights down to about 0 °F (−18 °C).
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late July to mid September. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 6 | Late July to mid September |
|---|---|
| Zone 7 | Mid July to mid September |
| Zone 8 | Mid July to mid September |
| Zone 9 | Mid July to mid September |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' be planted?
20 in (50 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 24 in (60 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 3½ ft (110 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' plants do I need?
At 20 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 4 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 14 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, repeated along the bed at intervals; a slender one reads better as a clump of three.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is there a native plant like red hot poker 'Percy's Pride'?
Red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Prairie blazing star: the same job in a bed; 4 in narrower, flowers mid July to late August.
- Rattlesnake master: the same job in a bed and the same size; flowers mid July to late August, white, not green.
- Showy goldenrod: the same job in a bed and the same size; flowers late August to mid October, yellow, not green.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What flowers after red hot poker 'Percy's Pride'?
Red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' is over by mid September. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Pink muhly grass: from mid September to early November, 3 ft tall.
- Garden chrysanthemum: from mid September to late October, 24 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Montauk daisy: from mid September to late October, 3 ft tall.
What does red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' look like in winter?
Red hot poker 'Percy's Pride' holds some of its leaves into winter, more in a mild year or a sheltered spot, and they look tired by March. Cut the old ones off as new growth starts.
More Kniphofia
- Red hot poker Kniphofia uvaria
- Red hot poker 'Flamenco' Kniphofia 'Flamenco'
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 3½ ft (110 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 20 in (50 cm) apart
- Height class
- Moderately tall (3 to 4 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back
- Flowers
- Late July to mid September; upright spires; green, yellow, cream
- Leaves
- Fine texture, semi-evergreen; green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 6 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- Light, in spring
- Family
- Asphodelaceae
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.