Amaryllis and Hippeastrums: Clivia Miniata Varigata, 1 by DaleTheGardener

DaleTheGardener wrote:
Edric,

When I lived in San Francisco I used to collect seed from the 1,000's of clivia growing in Golden Gate Park. Those were fresh seeds!

I never did anything special - just planted them in good potting soil at a depth that was 2-3 times their thickness, kept them in the house until they sprouted and planted them in gardens when they reached about 4 inches tall.

I think that Shields starting temp is a little too warm, unless you want real fast growth (like a commerical greenhouse).

I have learned that Clivia will take very low light levels and drought better than any other plant I have grown (except maybe Aspidistra). The slugs & snails will eat the leaves upon occasion and they really like the flowers. The plants I have grown here in the ground have very shallow roots - not sure why. I think they prefer clay soil (like the ones in CA) so I have been slowly top dressing them with pelletized lime and it has helped a little. They don't seem to bloom as well here as they did on the west coast, they just throw up a flower stem at random from fall to early summer. My plants in CA would always bloom heavily in spring, with a few flowers in fall.

They are not a fast grower here. I have had my best luck keeping them in containers, watering 3X a week and a handful of Osmocote every 6 months.

This is a photo of a yellow hybrid-a very pale yellow. It gets taller, blooms better and grows much faster than the orange>