How to Care for a Clivia Plant and Get It to Bloom
The sunny orange blossoms on my Clivia miniata plant contrast nicely with the bleak landscape outside the window during the harsh winter months. Their flowers seem to arrive just when we need them the most, after the craziness of the holidays has settled down and the cold of winter has settled in. Learn more about Clivia!
What Are Clivias?
Most clivias are grown as interesting houseplants and, as far as houseplants go, there aren’t many that are tougher. Since they are drought tolerant, they can go for several weeks without water; in fact, they need a dry, cold period to initiate flowering.
A cousin of the amaryllis, clivia is native to sub-tropical South Africa, where it grows in the shade of trees. Semi-epiphytic, they don’t grow directly in the soil, preferring the rich decomposing leaf mold found under the trees, between boulders, or on rotten logs. Their thick, fleshy roots store water like a sponge, enabling the plants to survive during the African dry season.
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Their colorful trumpet-shaped blooms are similar to that of amaryllis but smaller—and they retain their foliage year round (unlike an amaryllis).
There are six species of clivia and many hybrids, but the orange-flowering C. miniata is most commonly grown. Yellow varieties are available, but they are very expensive—around $300! Plant breeders have introduced other colors, like red, white with green stripes or red edges, and yellow with orange tips. There are some clivia varieties with green and white striped leaves, too. All types send up a cluster of 12 to 20 small, trumpet-shaped flowers on a tall stem called a scape.
Clivia can be grown outdoors as landscape plants in Zones 9 and 10 (mainly parts of Florida and California), but in colder climates, they love spending the summer outside and the winter indoors. Place them in the shade under a tall tree, as direct sunlight might burn the leaves. Be sure to bring them inside when frost threatens in the fall.
How to Get Clivia to Bloom
To get them to flower indoors, stop watering and keep the plant in a bright, cool spot, below 50°F (10°C) for at least 40 days and up to 90 days. (If giving it the long 90-day rest, you might need to water if the leaves start to wilt.) After it has rested, put your clivia in a warmer spot, resume watering, and it will flower in about 60 days.
I brought mine into our cool greenhouse (where night temps often drop to 45°F) around October 1, stopped watering it, never moved it into the warmth, and it started pushing up a flower scape in mid-December. My plant is quite large—not something I could balance on a windowsill—so it stays in the greenhouse until spring when I can safely put it back outside again. It often re-blooms several times.
After they are done blossoming, start to fertilize the plants by watering weekly with a half-strength, water soluble fertilizer. Remember to water weekly. Keep fertilizing until bringing it back inside in the fall.
Stunted Scapes
Sometimes, the flower scape doesn’t get tall enough to clear the leaves, and the blossoms can’t fully open—disappointing after waiting a year for them to flower! This can happen for many reasons—too hot, too cold, too bright, too shady, not a long enough chill time—but usually the fertilizer is to blame. Look for one that offers more potassium and phosphorus than nitrogen.
Pot ‘Em Up
Clivia bloom best when they are pot-bound. Often, the roots will push up out of the soil at the base of the plant, which is okay. They can go 3 to 5 years without re-potting, but eventually, your plant will outgrow its container, become crowded, and cease flowering. This is a good time to divide it and make some plants to share with friends. Once you knock it out of its pot, it is pretty easy to pull the fans apart without doing too much damage to the roots. Take this opportunity to remove any dead, brown, rotting roots. Be sure to use a light potting mixture that has about 50% organic matter and lots of coco coir or fir bark to aerate the soil. The fleshy roots could rot if kept in heavy, wet soil. Grow in bright indirect light indoors, like a north window.
Clivia can be grown from seed, but it takes a long time! The seeds take about a year to ripen and the plant needs to grow for 4 to 5 years to reach a blossoming size. It is much quicker to divide an existing plant.
Keep Away From Kitty
Clivia contains the alkaloid lycorine which is poisonous to pets and people. If eaten, it can cause vomiting and diarrhea. The roots are the most poisonous part. If eaten in large amounts, they can cause convulsions, low blood pressure, tremors, and heart arrhythmias. Clivia was used medicinally by the Zulus to treat fever and snake bites, and to relieve pain.
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Robin Sweetser
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I have Clivia plants and just finished blooming . I noticed that there’s a lot of white mold on the leaves. How can I get rid of it. Any suggestions?Thank you
It’s probably powdery mildew which happens in warm weather and especially if plants need more air circulation. Always trim plants before they get crowded or bushy. Remove any leaves that show signs of infection. Destroy (do not compost!) infected plant parts. A spray made with baking soda, if applied weekly at the first signs of infection, can protect plants against further damage. If they are white deposits, it’s probably mealy bugs. Wash it off, then apply rubbing alcohol on the plant and rinse in 2 days to kill the eggs.
Finally some helpful tips beyond just the standard cool, dry rest recommended for rebloom. So I learn it can stay in a cool bright space and still rebloom, but adding back a fertilizer is the trick when gradually resuming watering. My pot is so enormous I have struggled to find a warm, bright indoor space that isn't cramped. So will give my now rested clivia it's 1st drink in months and keep it @ 50 degrees in my bright garrett.
Will see if it blooms!
I meant to add that the info Robin gave us is very helpful - my flowers are sometimes too short so I know to try a different fertilizer. And now I know that I can safely leave it in a cold vestibule when it outgrows the window space. And last, but not least, mystery solved as to why I never see a yellow Clivia for sale. $300!!!
Mine is a mere baby at 15 years old. It really is wonderful to have it bloom off and on between December and March, despite little care and sitting near a drafty window. It has produced 6 big offsets which I have to separate this spring; they are so potbound they are living on air. You inspire me to take better care of it, Wendy. I hope yours will carry on many more years for you and your family.
Wow--100 years old! You're blessed to have this plant and you have such an interesting story to tell about it. And to think you need a wheelbarrow to move it; totally impressed!
My Clivia is about 100 years old - really! Maybe older. My husbands parents who have passed on, got it from his grandparents. I got it (they had discarded it in a field) when I was in my thirties and I’m 73 now. It had a setback three years ago when the building it’s kept in had the door blow open during a deep freeze and blowy winter night. The plant was found frozen nearly to the root. It has grown back now and still needs a wheelbarrow to move it.
