hardiness of Kniphofia uvaria
Jane McGary (Sat, 07 Feb 2004 10:36:38 PST)
A FOrest Service botanist at the ranger station in my small town once told
me that she had found a colony of Kniphofia uvaria growing far out in the
Mt. Hood National Forest above 4000 feet elevation. We speculated that it
might have come there as debris on heavy equipment used in logging, after
same equipment had been used in a home garden or compost facility. This
would be well above the winter snow line for our area, so the crowns
probably don't get very cold, but it attests to the toughness and perhaps
even invasiveness of this species, which is unpalatable to grazers.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon
At 09:00 AM 2/7/2004 -0700, you wrote:
I've seen this growing in a garden in the southern mountains of New Mexico
and here in the northern part of the state. Both areas are nominally USDA
zone 5.