2008 Growing Season #2: Git yer Red-Hots Here!

What an unusual looking plant, very pretty and quite striking … I REALLY like it!!! Your bulb garden looks terrific “D”!!! :-)

I will have to get over for that garden tour!!!

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Thanks, G’ma! Make it soon…as kooky as these pokers are, they don’t last too long! :)

BTW, all that foliage in front of the pokers (image 1) are those crazy iris/lily hybrids. They should start blooming in another few weeks!

-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit

Iris/lily hybrids? Details please?

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

Scott, they are called Pardancanda or “Candylily”. They are a cross between a Blackberry Lily and Vesper Iris. I ordered 3 from White Flower Farm this year. Got the variety called “Sangria”. Mine have not flowered yet. Can’t wait to see what they do!!!

And okay “D” ... I am so jealous that you have so many!!! How gorgeous are they gonna be! :-) But mine are doing really well for my first year. How long do they bloom for “D”??

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

those are really cool indeed!! Cool hot pokers )

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I will be making a separate blog entry just for those particular specimens…another plant I inherited from my mother’s garden; she calls ‘em “raspberry lilies”. The blooms are very similar to the pic G’maT has posted in shape, but the colors can be just about anything. These blooms last a single day…

If you look closely at G’ma’s pic, you’ll see all three phases of the bloom. Phase 1 is the bud, which you can see near the top of the image. Phase two is the actual bloom, which is obvious. Phase 3 is the end of the cycle, where the flower twists up on itself (along the left side of the pic). Again, I’ll post some pics once these guys bloom, since they’re so cool, but don’t want to distract too much from the subject of this particular blog entry…and the cool pokers!

-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit

That is great! So that is what I can expect in a few years!
I started some this year inside, moved them out and more than half the seedlings died! I think they are drowning!
thanks D!

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

I like those !
You said they’re short-blooming, how fast does the foliage go grotty afterward?
If it dtays nice for a reasonable time, I may have to find room along the sunny end of the fence for some.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

Yep, these guys are in relatively full fun, getting shade in the later afternoon.

E, I thought the roots were duds after the first season; I barely got a good turnout of leaves.

Dini, I expect the blooms to last about 2 weeks. On the big closeup, you can see how the blooms get “used-up” from the bottom up. After they go, I cut down the stalks, and the foliage lasts well past the fall. In fact, I think the leaves stayed green until probably January of this year!

-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit

Wow, those are such lovely plants – I love the colour! I’ll have to think about growing them when I have more room in my own garden. :)

Love the red hot pokers.What a beautiful colour contrast to the rest of the garden.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

Well these “red hot pokers” were certainly worth the wait … cuz they are just beautiful!!

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b