I have Kniphofia uvaria "flamenco" and I am interested in your calgary daffodil. PLMK Kathy

I grow several of these, including 'Percy's Pride', 'Green Jade' and the seed grown 'Flamenco'. They appear to have varying degrees of hardiness in Zone 4-5. The three mentioned seem to be quite hardy for me (in southern Ontario) but I have lost others, such as 'Little Maid'. 'Nancy's Red' is another one whose hardiness is questionable for me. I have two plants of NR in my blvd. that were planted in 2008. They didn't do much last year (as small plants) so am waiting to see what happens in 2010. NR is supposed to be hardy to USDA z.6. Here is a link that might be useful: Red hot poker pictures

Thanks for your thoughts. Update: late at night I looked at him with a flashlight. For some reason they panic less - like a deer in headlights? At any rate, could see fully formed gills ie layers so on, but NO gill covering. (he would occasionally turn so I could compare sides and try to measure gill so on - I could clearly see well defined layers of 'gill' sorry forget scientific name, but just was missing that top outer cover with scales and coloring. Like if our skin were torn off, pink. No oozing, no mucus,nothing else. He as I mentioned has been like this when I saw him first at store - many weeks now. So seems he survived with this damage. Swelling has gone down as well. I found some info late last night that mentioned a particular bacteria and or parasite (forget now) that erodes the gill covering when not treated early enough (dang those stores, I kept telling them to treat that tank) and this is what seems to have occurred. I have treated for both gram neg/positive and external parasites. I have put all but three red eyed columbian tetras into the main tank. (20 gallon long, planted with annubias, rocks and two outside filters) 9 Red eyed columbian tetras and three mystery snails. He is in with remaining two with mouth 'fungus' ie probably flexibar bacteria. Just now using more natural methods and off meds, I find spot treating, salt, and pimefix sometimes works better for patches of this hard to treat bacteria- I think he will be fine just don't expect gill to regrow? He is really fiesty, and I guess will do fine and I will need to keep a watch on him. Thanks Sherry

I have a few of the common ones and I used to work at PDN back when he was trying out every color there is. There is very little difference in the leaves - all are more or less grass like blades, some have a wider base and some are more blue-ish. My opinion is that they like as much sun as possible and well drained soil. The bloom quality and quantity seem to be affected by weather more than anything else - some years are better than others. Mine bloomed while quite young but the larger clumps seem to bloom more. I remember seeing an article years ago in a gardening mag that said that most of the species come from mountainous areas where it is very wet for one season and then dries out the rest of the year.