Another inexpensive way of adding to the plant collection for my raised beds is by propagation. My sister explained that there are several ways to propagate plants. So we decided to raid my mum’s garden (with permission).
Care Of Red Hot Poker Plant
To clarify, the red hot poker flowers themselves can be removed after they fade (deadheading), but the leaves should not be cut back at that time. The leaves should also not be cut back in fall. The best method is to wait until the leaves die and turn brown, then tie them together over the base of the plant. As cooler weather arrives in the fall, kniphofia leaves may yellow and die back as the plant slips into dormancy. Foliage may be cut back at this point. Your kniphofia plant will rest for a few months before beginning the next growing cycle in spring. In warm regions, red hot poker lily foliage may stay green year round. Pots, Barrels, Tubs & Urns. ‘Percy’s Pride’ – with greenish yellow flower spikes, this looks good planted with Euphorbia mellifera that enjoys similar growing conditions ‘Nancy’s Red’ – produces bright red flower spikes between June and October.Team with other hot-coloured flowers, such as heleniums, rudbeckias and perennial grasses ‘Ice Queen’ – this is one of the palest red hot pokers available. Cutting Back Red Hot Poker Plants As fall arrives, you may see your red hot poker plant’s leaves wilting. The plant will go dormant for winter, and much of the foliage yellows at this time. The plant rests for several months to begin growing again in spring.
Dividing Red Hot Pokers
This is a method we used on bigger primroses, hot pokers and iris.
To divide the plant we dug it up after flowering and looked at the base, we picked natural points in the plant for example between leaves, ensuring the piece we were removing had roots and had growth on top and then put the plant back and the piece we had divided into a pot and watered so the soil settled.
When you look closely at this hot poker, you can see it’s made up of lots of sections which look like leeks! We just broke off one of these, with it’s roots and potted it up.
The hot pokers we did the end of last year are doing really well and are creating off shoots themselves which we can divide.
Original section on the right, with two new shoots.
Buddleia Cuttings
These are easier (I was scared id hurt the plant dividing it up) We took cuttings from all sorts like Buddleia “buzz”, Clematis, hardy geraniums just to name a few in case mums reading!
To do these cuttings with sharp scissors/secateurs we took sections of fresh growth and cut just below a leaf joint or node ensuring there is enough stalk to place the first joint into the soil to root from and a second joint on top for the new shoots. Try and avoid any flower buds, but if you can’t find pieces without, you can cut them off.
Next you need to remove the bottom sets of leaves, under the soil they would just root and reducing the above ground leaves will help stop the cutting wilting.
Red Hot Poker Plant Cutting Backyard
These are then placed in pots with the top leaf joint level with the surface. I poked holes with my finger to get them in.
Then water to settle the soil.
These then go into a green house, or in our case a window sill, and are covered. We like to use sandwich bags as these fit nicely over pots.
These are cuttings we took the same way last summer all grown up: