So my favorite all time perennial is the beautiful Red Hot Poker plant... from the first time i saw this plant I am always looking to add more to my yard and learn more about it.

It seems as if there are two varieties that i have come upon that i have in my yard -- one is a spring/early summer bloomer and the other is a later summer bloomer.
I love the latter so much more.. that thing just blooms and blooms all summer but i have yet to find any more of these at nurseries in my area. I would like to try to grow some more
of these from seed... can anyone please provide some direction on how i can do this with this plant? It is rather large at this time so i could possibly split it ( that is possible, right?)
but i really rather not.

Any insight on the seedlings, etc would be much appreciated.

Thank you - Aaron

They are my favourites too, athough these days with my tiny garden I can only grow a couple in containers. I've not grown them from seed so perhaps others could comment on that, but you could certainly divide them, especially if you have a fairly large plant. You could also try mail order if there are particular varieties you like.

Do you have any photos of your plants that you could share? There are some lovely newer varieties with more unusual colouring. I have Toffee Nosed which is gorgeous, and I like the green/yellow ones.

Best wishes and good luck!

You can dig and divide these but they take some muscle. I would wait until spring to do that.
Some companies sell seed for these, but like many perennials, it can be a year before you see a bloom from the seed. I would suggest you take some of the spent blooms and plant your own seeds. The babies look like new grass and are easy to mistake for weeds. (yep, I pulled ALL my seedlings..)
Some of the newer varieties are super cool! The popsicle series is one I really love.
Here's Monrovia's page on them:

http://www.monrovia.com/?s=pop...

Woah.. loving ALL this talk about my faves.... and love that others like @kniphofia share my affinity for these beauties! Once i saw them i knew i had to have more!

You can just see my RHP's in this pic near my pool.. this one is my favorite and the one that blooms from early-mid summer to early fall.. it jsut rocks and i wish i had 100 of these all around the pool.
( yes i just took the pic and THEN did some dead-heading on this plant.. dont judge me too harshly, haha!)

WOW - @CindiKS - Great info on things and the link you provided has shown me that there are in fact MANY more colors than i had known about! Woohoo.

I am not up for splitting my one nice plant so i have to take your idea of finding some babies....so the way i read your reply is that there really arent seeds to find and sow but instead
find some new grass that is growing right out of the ground and dig them up and then replant, is that correct? I guess I would be able to find them at any point during the season or ??

Thanks -- !! Aaron

My kniphofia have never ever reseeded. But I divide them about every three years. My clumps multiply rapidly. My favorite variety is Red Hot Popsicle.

jvdubb said:My kniphofia have never ever reseeded. But I divide them about every three years. My clumps multiply rapidly. My favorite variety is Red Hot Popsicle.

Thanks @jvdubb --- if i go that route it's good to know that it works.. i take it you do it at the end of the season?

I don't follow any rules. I divide whenever is convenient for me. I try to watch the weather and make sure it won't interfere. For instance, the next ten days are going to be awful hot. So I don't do anything like that in times like these. But I have not found any significant difference between spring and late summer dividing. Do be careful though not to plant it too deep. If the crown is too deep the plant will not thrive. Made that mistake a few times. Some times I pot up my divisions and wait for them to bounce back before I plant them back out.

As a side note after some hard frosts I take the leaves and twist them up and form a "bun" over the crown to protect it from winter rot.

That's a real beauty Aaron, even before the dead-heading! If you take a look at the database here you'll find photos of a lot of varieties. There are some real stunners, from the small Popsicle series to the tough as nails species like K caulescens to the robust greens like Percy's Pride.

http://garden.org/plants/brows...

I've never grown them from seed, I've never noticed seedlings.

great info on how you divide them @jvdubb - I like the approach of potting them until i see some growth. As far as the winter is concerned -- I always cut mine down to the ground late fall, is that not what you do? My plant has thrived, even through a very cold winter like 2 - 3 years ago so i guess that is working for me but i wonder what you/others do. Your "bun" approach seems to make a lot of sense to me....

Look at all those varieties -- wow @kniphofia thanks for the link! I cant get enough of these and I am learning so much from you all ---
Also, thanks for the very nice words about my plant, that one is my favorite for sure!

You've never noticed seedlings... that is what i need to understand as far as what I am looking for --- I really would love to spread this plant around my pool area.

Whoops! Aaron, what I meant about seedlings was, I bought a package of torch lily seeds, and spread them around, and I think i ended up pulling out what may have been seedlings because the young plants look just like grass. I used to work in a greenhouse that raised these from seed, and they were tiny babies! My plants do have seeds on them, but I don't know what it takes to get those seeds to germinate.
The best way to get more is divide your own plants. Next best is buy more plants. Someone down the road from me has some yellow ones that must be 2 1/2 feet tall, and they have been blooming for a month! I need to find that kind!

Does anyone know of sources for non-treated plants? I want them fir pollinators but don't want to kill the very insects I am trying to entice!