International Popularity

The first Clivia species collected in southern Africa by Europeans in the early 19
century were sent back to the heated glasshouses of the Royal Botanic Gardens at
Kew, (London). They were named for a patron of the Gardens, Lady Clive, Duchess of
Northumberland, granddaughter of Clive of India, and governess of the future Queen
Victoria (hence the name Clivia).

The orange Clivia was introduced into Australia before 1860, and the miniata yellow by
the 1970's. We have had a number of world class breeders, of whom Kevin Walters of
Toowoomba has probably been the most outstanding. Kevin does not have the growing
area to undertake large scale line breeding, but a number of his hybrid varieties are
deservedly widely grown, not only in Australia but also by international breeders.

The Walters yellow has been line bred by Bill Morris at Medowie (inland from New
Castle NSW) for 30 years: more than five generations. This improved "Morris Yellow"
continues to be of international quality, and it also figures prominently in the pedigree of
many international cultivars.

It continues to be the main Australian yellow offered by this Nursery.

As well as their increasing popularity as a garden plant in regions with a temperate
climate, Clivias are most intensively grown in Western Europe and China, largely as pot
plants.
Thanks to modern hothouse technology, a Clivia miniata strain selected for short broad
leaves, and which flowers in 2 ½ years from seed, (the Belgium Hybrid), is grown by the
million in Belgium and Holland, and sold as a flowering pot plant for Christmas.

The modern dwarf early lowering Belgium hybrid	Pierre de Coster's nursery near Melle, Belgium	Pierre's multicolour
Remarkably, the Clivia is also very popular in Northern China and Japan. There is often snow on the ground for some weeks in winter. Here Clivia miniata has been selectively bred as an ideal house plant with short broad leaves, (often variegated): the Daruma.
Daruma		yellow Daruma
The Clivia became the official emblem of the city of Changchun, (700km northeast of Beijing), in 1984, and numbers of pots of Daruma are the only plants surrounding the embalmed body of Mao Tse-tung inside the Memorial Hall of Tiananmen Square, Beijing. Clivia growing here tends to be a “cottage industry” with heated glasshouses being attached to family dwellings, and the potted plants being sold at local flower markets.

Home heated glasshouse, Changchun, China	Flower market in Beijing
This commemorative set of Chinese Clivia stamps was given to me in the year 2000 by Shi Guoguang, Vice Dean of the Changhun Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and a noted Chinese breeder.