PlantFiles: Bush Lily, Clivia Lily, St. John's Lily, Boslelie, Fire Lily
Clivia miniata

great plant. mine enjoys the summer outside, but beware intense summer sun!
the leaves can sunburn and turn brown. my clivia gets a spot of bright but totally indirect light.

Should I "oversummer" my clivia plant outside in zone 5 (or just keep it inside as a houseplant)?

I acquired an Orange Clivia from a friend in March-2008.
It came to me in a 12" pot where it had resided for more than 30 years--never having been fertilized ot watered regularly for all that time. It was a gift from a friend. It was also in full bloom. SO lovely to look at!

I had it outside in filtered shade the rest of that Summer and then brought it inside for the Winter and had it it in so-so light in my LR. The next Summer--I took it back outside and kept it in shade--but it did not flower too well.

Having read all the comments here--I was aware that it needed a cool rest period. Tried to give it to the plant inside that Winter--but it was still just average home temps.....
The Summer of 2009, I could not stand the awful crowded condition it was growing in and decided to divide it....a bold step!

What a chore that was!!!!! I could not get it out of the 12" pot it had lived in for 30+ years.....Every nook and cranny was solid with the roots of this plant. I pounded and pounded on the pot with my small sledge hammer--forever! I was amazed that the pot never even cracked!
Eventually--it loosened from the pot and I was able to remove the root mass.....holding my breath that all would be well when i was done...Hosed it off and was amazedat the fleshy root system that was there! Like a HUGE pile of white, fat worms.....

Well--Out of this OLD plant--I eventually got 12 divisions--only by getting my sharp kitchen knife and, literally, butchering the whole root-mass apart. I re-potted these in various sized pots (6"-10").

These pots spent the following Winter in my cool, dark Shop with just ONE 4' shop light above them during the day and total dark every night. I did not really water them at all--just a sprinkle now and then to keep them from totally drying out.

This month (4/2010) two of the divisions have produced blooms.
Several others have them coming through the base of the plant.

Today--4/15/10--I put them all outside and gave them all some time released fertilizer and watered them well. They will receive early AM light--and then shade the rest of the day.

I will take good care of them this Summer and then, hopefully, sell these plants next Spring as theu start budding up....

This has been my first experience with Clivia. So far--I can vouch for the hardiness of this plant....It is a keeper!!!!
Gita

I've had a pot of Clivia lilies for more years than I can remember. I've got several plants in a large pot, and they are pot bound; their fleshy roots are growing over the top. The leaf spread for the bunch of them is probably 3 feet. They bloom every year, in February-March. In November I bring them inside and put them in a cool basement when the temperature approaches freezing outside. I basically ignore them inside, with little water and less light than they got on the shaded porch. They go back outside in mid-April when danger of frost is gone ( USA, Zone 7). I water them very little, maybe a good dousing every 3 weeks to a month, even outside in the hot summer. I love this plant!

I am a beginner gardener and got fire lily seeds from my friend, it's these red round seeds alot of them, I planted them in pots with compost and water them regularly and it's been 2 weeks and nothing is happening..he said i should dig one up to see and it's now a dark colour.How do I get them to grow?

Love this lily! In my experience it should be grown in a shady area...I have noticed specimens growing well under the shelter of my bank's roof and also the roof of the high school where I work. The ones we have in our yard seem to sunburn and then the foliage is rough-looking. So -- I think we need to move ours to a more consistently shady area of the yard! Would hate to miss out on the fiery loveliness of the blossoms!

Fantastic. A real pleasure to grow, and it only gets better as the plant ages. I grow them under an old oak tree, giving an average amount of water. They also make great cut flowers. One bloom stalk lasts more than two weeks.

I started my first Clivia from seed over 24 years ago. The original 4 plants are still going strong and have been divided many times. They bloom religiously for me if I start cooling them down in November and basically stop watering. I put them in my attached garage and ignore them for the months of Nov, Dec and Jan as long as the temps in the garage are above freezing. Then I start watering and fertilizing...within a few weeks I have buds and then flowers. During the summer they are on my shaded deck and given slow release fertilizer like Osmocote. Some of my blooms are all orange, some orange with yellow throats and some more yellow with just a little orange. They love to be rootbound and you have to break the plastic pot to divide them. They are great plants and often bloom several times during the early spring and summer for me. Those 4 seeds have produced about 30 plants over the years.
Sue M

Always been a favorite of mine, in So. Cal my grandfather grew them outside in the ground year round, in Houston area I grow them outside in pots and only in the event of severe cold do I bring them inside. My daughter and others I have seen grow them outside in the ground year round here, I am not so brave! Easy non-demanding plant.

This is the houseplant bar none. It takes dry conditions, it endures neglect and thrives and blooms. Everyone should grow this plant in their homes.

If you put it outside it does much better in the shade otherwise the leaves will scorch. It also likes well drained soil and wet conditions can rot the roots. It is difficult to repot without damaging the fleshy roots but fortunately it is tough.

I think happygardening is right about Clivia enjoying lower temperatures in order to flower. I started about 10 years ago with one plant in a pot, and now have at least four pots each full of plants, not to count the ones that I have given away over the years. To my surprise, they flowered the year after I divided as I thought they hated being moved, but this year I have never had blooms like it before. And I'm sure it's because we had unseasonably cold weather here in Morocco this winter -- it got to 2°C below here and my clivia outside on a 4th floor terrace didn't seem to mind!

Very easy care. In winter, give it a rest. Only water enough to keep the plants from wilting(in other words, keep it on the dry side), and drop the temporature to in the fifties or so. Not doing so is the main cause of not flowering. Needs a airy soil, needs to be well drained.

This plant prefers shade and is apparently very drought tolerant. It produces many red, orange or yellow blooms in my area throughoutn spring. pokerboy.

I had two HUGE pots of Clivia. One was a clump of the Orange and the other was a clump of the Yellow. Each pot was about two feet in diameter and the plants were literally on the verge of bursting their pots. This was four years ago.

In the fall, I broke the pots up and carefully divided each plant into four smaller plants. So, I had four smaller plants of the Orange and four smaller plants of the Yellow.

I have a shady area under a couple of Melaleuca trees where I put all eight plants. Every single one bloomed the following year! Two years ago I got two Bullmastiff puppies who proceeded to trample through my bed of Clivias! I was not hopeful. This year I had 19 bloom spikes off of those eight very large and healthy Clivias.

What have I learned? In the right environment, these plants can be easily divided and even when they are trampled on, they recover very quickly. They recover much quicker than their slow-growing reputation seems to indicate.

Go ahead and divide your Clivias. Just give them plenty of shade and DON'T OVERWATER. Otherwise, they will be fine.

Edgewood, Wa
Have had the same Clivia for almost 20 years. It has grown and had beautiful foliage. But no blooms. Finally decided I have had it. Threw into the greenhouse on the floor. Ignored it completely, watered only if and when I would notice it. Well it was really looking terrible, besides it had become infested with mealybugs. They love all the folds of leaves to get into. I finally felt ashamed and sprayed, cleaned the foliage, removed old dead leaves and added some fresh top soil. Guess kindness does pay, it has sprouted 2 bud spikes and am looking forward to it blooming. I have been waiting for this for 20 years. Guess sometimes "tough love" also works on plants.

I was given this plant by a neighbor in West Virginia in 1974. He had had kept it alive after his wife had died, twenty years earlier. I've kept it going as well, through moves, differing climates, etc. It just lives on. I do almost nothing to it: watering and occasional repotting. It keeps on going. It keeps flowering. It is now more than fifty years old and is about to flower again. What a wonderful thing to have in your life.

I live in Sebastian, Florida, and have had two pots of clivia for 15 years. They have not bloomed for the last several years. They are outside in full shade, nicely pot bound. I fertilize them with a liquid fertilizer in the spring and summer months. The plants themselves appear to be very healthy, but they just won't bloom for me.

San Antonio, TX
I have this plant which is native to South Africa in a large pot on my patio in complete shade. It adds interest all year round and especially while in bloom. Last winter when the temperature fell into the low 20s, I covered it with a light white cloth I purchased at a local gardening center that is designed to keep frosts and freezes from damaging plants. The plant had no ill effects from the cold weather. Plants grow well in the ground when provided with a 2 to 3 inch layer of mulch. If frozen to the ground, well-mulched plants grow back from buds at the soil line. It blooms on stalks up to 18 inches tall in March to April here.

It is a no fuss plant that requires infrequent watering. In the ground, it prefers a light scattering of a general garden fertilizer every other month March through September. Do not apply right next to the plant base in order to keep from burning it. Apply a 20-20-20 liquid fertilizer or similar product monthly during the warmer weather to container plants. Slugs (kill with snail and slug bait or other means) and grasshoppers (use Sevin dust) may feed on the foliage. Control scale insects with an oil spray.

The emergence, growth and opening of the bloom provides a sense of magic in the garden.

The genus name ihonors of Charlotte Clive, duchess of Northumberland, who is thought to have first cultivated the plant (native to the south of Africa) in England in the early 19th century.

Edited to add that I fertilized my plant in January and again in February. It produced more blooms this year than ever before. Perhaps fertilizing it when I did caused this to happen.

I have them in the ground and while they are beautiful and growing famously, they have nasty roots that take over and area much larger that I ever imagined. They need a place of their own as they don't share well with others. I may pot them since everyone else seems to have done it.

What a lovely color! I have the miniata (red-orange) and would love to find a yellow or white variety. The Clivia is strictly a house plant where I live in the mountains of Maryland.

This is used as one of my house plants, when purchasd it had 1 large bloom. When the bloom died I cut off the stem, now it is begining to bloom again but this time with much smaller blooms.

From England - This plant came with a job lot that I bought from a retired person's conservatory. I didn't know what it was, stashed it under the greenhouse bench and forgot all about it.Early this month [ March ] it produced a wonderful bloom. Minimum temperature all winter in the greenhouse was 7C.

This is a "no sweat" plant here in southwest Florida. I'm growing the yellow one in a pot on the front patio, year around. I think it's attractive whether it's blooming or not--although I prefer blooming.

On the West Coast clivias will live outdoors in no-frost areas. You can see them as huge clumps in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, where they are a staple in the shaded areas.

There is now a true red clivia, name unknown, in addition to the usual orange and rarer yellow forms.

Cliveas are a robust plant, easy to care for, and well worth the effort for the beautiful orange or yellow flowers and deep green strapping foliage.

Kaffir's produce a beautiful cluster of tubular orange flowers with yellow throats. If the flowers are pollinated they each produce a cherry sized, green berry which slowly turns red over many weeks.
 
Kaffir's are an easy to care for plant which tolerates typical house hold conditions. Although good lighting is required for bloom, non-blooming plants are still visually interesting. They sucker readily so sharing with friends is easy. No wonder these plants are so popular as houseplants!

Kaffir Lily can become a rather large house plant. The orange flowers have yellow throats and are usually produced in the spring. The plant are easily grown. Eventually the plants will become so large that they must be divided. Fertilize regularly with a product formulated for house plants.