Kniphofia 'Elvira'
Kniphofia ‘Elvira’ ablaze with flowers in May 2014. Photo: SK Reid.
Summary
UC Davis is located in Davis, California, this site has a silty clay loam soil and plants are irrigated with potable water. More information about the field sites is located in the Nuts & Bolts section.
‘Elvira’ is a small, summer-blooming cultivar of poker plant that was 2’ 4” tall (70.2 cm) and 4’ 2” (129 cm) wide at the end of the second year in our trials. Dead foliage was cleaned out of all plants at the beginning of April. There were no statistically significant differences in growth between treatments, but the two highest irrigation levels did have the best foliage and overall appearance ratings. Only these two irrigation levels ever attained an average overall appearance rating of 4.0 or higher, and that was only for the month of May when they had the highest floral display rating. Plants began blooming lightly on some specimens in April and continued through July. The foliage of ‘Elvira’ was not consistently green and vigorous, and required monthly removal of yellowed, dying leaves to maintain appearance. There were also several plants affected adversely by mealy bugs. As shown in Table 14, the two lowest treatments did not yield an acceptable average annual overall appearance rating. The toughness and low-water habit of some Kniphofia seems to have been bred out of this cultivar.
Basic Info
| Submitted by: | Blooms of Bressingham |
| Site(s): | UC Davis |
| Trial Exposure: | Sun |
| Year evaluated: | 2014 |
| Height & Width (after 2 years): | 2.3' x 4.2' |
| Reported Height & Width (at maturity): | 2-3' x 1.5-2' |
| WUCOLS plant type: | P A |
| Water Needs & WUCOLS Region: | Medium - Region 2 |
Mean Overall Appearance rating: (1-5 Scale, 5 is highest) | 3.3 |
| Flowering Months: | April-August |
Growth and Quality Data
Click Here for Complete Data Set
Kniphofia ‘Elvira’ in September 2014 on 60% of ETo displaying the ragged foliage that was typical of all treatment levels. Photo: SK Reid.