GROW IT
Clivia hybridizer is no ordinary Joe
February 4, 2010
Sonia Day
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Joe Solomone's clivias
All gardeners develop particular passions. I'm crazy about clivias, because it's unbelievably exciting when they deign to bloom. Their big sprays of tangerine flowers look sensational and last for weeks. (See my Jan. 9 column).
Mine performed – hallelujah! – in early January and is still strutting its stuff in the living room window. And now, wow – I'm getting in a lather all over again because an opportunity is coming up to purchase some different kinds of clivias. These are creamy-coloured (or two-tone yellow and orange) not the usual plain tangerine. They were developed by a nutty California hybridizer called Joe Solomone.
GardenImport, the mail-order plant specialist in Thornhill, is bringing a few into Canada for the first time this spring, and clivia crazies like me are already snapping them up.
What's so special about Joe Solomone's clivias? Well, gardeners love novelty and his were a breakthrough in plant breeding because most clivias stayed that characteristic pale orange – only – for nearly 200 years. (The first person to make them bloom "in captivity" was a British aristocrat, Lady Charlotte Florentina Clive, Duchess of Northumberland, who brought one home from South Africa in l823 and kept it in her greenhouse.) Savvy Solomone noticed a "sport" – that is a yellow clivia – growing in a big patch of conventional tangerine ones and decided to try tinkering with it.
It took decades, but Solomone persevered. New strains eventually resulted, and before his recent death, the International Bulb Society gave this determined guy the Herbert Medal, the highest award in horticulture, for his efforts with the oh-so- cantankerous clivia.
And although Solomone's cultivars are now widely accepted, they can be hard to find. Pricey, too. GardenImport is selling "Light Yellow" for $45.95 apiece. Bigger "Little Charm" goes for $89.95. They'll be shipped, owner Dugald Cameron promises, when the weather warms up. If you want one, act fast. www.gardenimport.com 1-800-339-8314.
soniaday.com
Toronto Star