PLANT OF THE WEEK
Can't get no respect? Try a clivia
February 2, 2008
Sonia Day
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Clivia Amaryllidaceae
Clivias are classy. Acquire one and – unlike Rodney Dangerfield – you'll immediately get respect.
There are several reasons for this. One is the plant's upper-crust connections. It's named after Lady Charlotte Florentina Clive, Duchess of Northumberland (and should thus, strictly speaking, be called a CLY-vee-a, although in nerdy North America we always say CLIV-ee-a.)
Another reason is that clivias – unlike their lowly cousin, the amaryllis – can be fiendishly difficult to coax into bloom. Lady Clive was the first person in Britain to do it successfully (after a botanist brought some back from South Africa in 1823) and, nowadays, you can go bonkers trying too hard.
However, I've recently discovered the secret. Mine (planted in a clay pot) stays out of doors, in a semi-sunny area, during summer. I water regularly and fertilize occasionally. But come fall, it gets hauled inside to a really cool basement and is kept very dry. Coolness and dryness are clearly the keys, because now this once-cantankerous clivia obligingly sends up flower stalks every winter (and sometimes performs in summer, too.)
And how noble my clivia is, worth every bit of effort. The bouquet-like cluster of orange and yellow flowers lasts for weeks, is faintly fragrant and looks breathtakingly beautiful in the living room, enthroned amid the plant's braided dark green leaves. Visitors never fail to ooh and aah over it.
So try a clivia. I guarantee it will impress everyone you know.
soniaday.com
Toronto Star