Clivia Miniata Varigata

I just received Clivia seeds from China very fresh, have them soaking, I grow palm trees, and have a huge amount of Amaryllis, but have never seen them produce seeds, hence no experience in germinating them, or Clivia, which is what this question is about, after soaking, I usually just place the seeds a little under the soil, and keep moist, is there anything special I need to know about germinating Clivia seeds, thanks, Ed

Thanks

Ed, I don't know about starting clivia from seed. But it looks like I may get some amaryllis seed this spring. How do I plant that? Thanks. Sarah

Not sure, I have so many, they just keep dividing, they were my grandmothers, when she died, in 1985, I dug them all up, and brought them here, Ed

I have not started clivia from seeds but I have done it with amaryllis. You can float seeds in water with little proxide & cover the container, once you see the roots growing out you can plant them in the soil. Mist gently for awhile.

I did research, here's the link, Clivia seeds never go dormant, so they require special care, Ed

http://www.shieldsgardens.com/info/StartCliviaSeeds.html

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>

Thanks Dale, this is a photo of one I bought for my mom for Christmas, and another photo of a Furkurin hybrid, with Monk genes, whatever that means, this, and another variety of variegated hybrid is what I'm germinating, Ed

Furkurin.

Edric,

Nice plants, very healthy.

I bought some clivia seeds on EBay 3-4 yrs ago too. Most were the orange hybrids, but, also a few variegates. The variegated types from seed don't have much white, they are mostly green with a few pin stripes in the leaf. I am guessing that the strips of white are not passed easily from generation to generation (or the person who crossed them didn't do a good job of pollinating/crossing the best parents?).

Monk genes - I would guess that one of the plants (or pollen) in that plant's 'family tree' was a Monk. When I did business with seed sellers in China some of their emails didn't always use the best English (not that I am a master). I have used translation programs to communicate with folks overseas, sometimes with less than stellar results.

Here is a very old photo of one of Golden Gate Park's clivia beds>

Thanks Dale, If your interested, this guy speaks good English within reason, and has seeds so freash you can smell it when you open the well protected package, plus you pay first, then a few weeks later just when the seeds are taken from the carpel, they are packaged, and shipped registered mail, there is one variegated type, that he warns, some of the seedlings will be albino, but all are broadleaf, from 80 to 120 mm, thanks Ed

Thanks for the tip about a good seed seller, but, I still have 10 five gallon plants that I have been unable to sell in the last 3 years. Clivia are not widely known or widely grown in my area.

No sense in growing things folks won't buy....

An orange one>

They said the one I got my mom, is a Belgium broadleaf, it looks the same don't ya think, although I know that's hot the right name, Ed

Since we're talking clivias here, I would like to share some pics that I just received. These are some of the beautiful clivias growing and blooming in my firneds garden in South Africa.

From the garden of David Laubscher...

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I'll post more pics later. Something in the forum's system is preventing me from posting series of pics.

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Maria, those are some nice colors. SAfrica has many hybrids (and hybridizers). I wish we could get some of those plants.

I have had a Clvia Miniata for years. It does bloom but not reliably. Sometimes as late as July. I gave some to my DD who lives in mid Ga & hers bloom beautifully every year. don't know why, maybe because it gets colder there, tho if this year continues as it is & has been, should be cold enough this year!!!

Rene,

Lots of plants as sensitive to the length of the day. As you go north of FL the days are longer in the summer than ours, but, our days are longer in the winter than up north. Some plants don't adapt to the move south.

The ones I am most familiar with are long day flowering, short day flowering and day netural.

Short day flowering are plants that flower in the winter - like some begonias, some are long day flowering - those that flower in mid summer. Day neutral flowers are the ones that flower all the time - like many annuals, Impatiens are day neutral, they flower every day of the year.

I have tired for years to grow columbine (species) here in Tampa. They are a plant from the north. I can get them to grow, but, they never flower since our summer days are short, by comparison.

Not a clivia>.

Here is a photo of the variegated clivia that I kept - it looked better (more white) when it was a young sprout>