clivias

Clivias are herbaceous evergreen plants, with green strap-like leaves, indigenous to South Africa. In flower, they are strikingly beautiful, although some collectors also value them for the shape of the leaves.

Flower colours range from orange to yellow and sometimes deep red. Through selective breeding, many different shades of salmon and peach have been achieved. Mzansi Flora can offer bulk quantities of Clivia miniata (orange and yellow varieties) and smaller quantities of seeds from specialist breeders and collectors.

Clivia caulescens

Clivia caulescens is similar to Clivia nobilis and Clivia gardenii. All have pendulous bell-like flowers. Clivia caulescens has a tall bamboo-like stem with aerial roots. Stems can be over one metre high. Clivia caulescens usually growing in rocky habitats with the aerial roots clinging to the rocks.

Prefer damp, shaded, frost-free conditions in well-drained soil rich in leaf mould. Main flowering period is in spring. Easy to grow as a garden plant in frost-free areas, and germinate easily from seed.

Clivia gardenii

Clivia gardenii have pendulous flowers ranging in colour from yellow through pastel, to dark orange. Clivia gardenii is an important plant and is used with Clivia miniata to create a wide range of inter-specific hybrids. Clivia gardenii’s range is throughout Kwazulu Natal. Colours range from yellow to almost red.

Clivia miniata

Clivia miniata is probably the best known of the Clivias. It typically has open flowers with six petals. Colours range from cream to yellow and dark orange. Clivia miniata with its large umbels of flowers is a favourite pot plant in Europe, Japan and China.

It has been improved over the years, particularly by the Belgians, Japanese and Chinese to produce compact plants with broad-petalled large flowers. Clivia miniata grows in a wide range of composts rich in leaf-mould.

Clivia mirabilis

Clivia mirabilis is an exciting plant first discovered in 2002 in a gorge near Nieuwoudtville in Namaqualand, unusual in that it is the only Clivia to be found in a winter rainfall climate.

It is a beautiful plant with red pigmentation at the base, a trait which it passes on to its progeny when crossed with Clivia caulescens and Clivia miniata. It has a silvery stripe in the leaves midrib. Clivia mirabilis has pendant flowers in neon-like colours from light pastel to red that hang on long pedicels

Grow Clivia mirabilis in well-drained bark-based compost (well-rotted) using slow-release fertilizer regularly. Because Clivia mirabilis is used to winter-rainfall, it should have the protection of a poly-carbonate roof to prevent too much rain in summer.

Clivia nobilis

Clivia nobilis was the first species of Clivia to be discovered in South Africa. Clivia nobilis is characterized by strap-shaped leaves with a typical notch at the end.

Flowers are pendant and colour ranges from cream to red. The tips of the flowers are green. Clivia nobilis is slow-growing and may take 6 – 8 years to reach the flowering stage. There are a few important clones of Clivia nobilis. One of the rarer varieties which are registered under the name “Pearl of the Cape” has light yellow flowers with green tips and is owned by Welland Cowley. This plant is believed to have come from a population in the Grahamstown district.

Clivia robusta