The bold flower clusters of Clivia in early to mid-spring and their arching, often symmetrical, strap-like foliage make them stunning additions to an indoor plant collection.
This guide will discuss how to care for them as houseplants. Most clivias can’t tolerate cool temperatures, but if you’re in Zone 9 or 10, they’ll grow happily outdoors all year in the right conditions.
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That’s how they grow in the warmer regions of my New Zealand homeland.
Every morning of my childhood, I’d look out my bedroom window to a sea of clivias waving hello, with stunning bursts of orange flowers in spring. They thrived despite near year-round neglect along the shaded side of our family home.
Caring for clivias isn’t complicated but they do have some specific needs that are a little different to many other popular indoor plants, as they prefer less light than most and aren’t fond of standard potting soil.
Here’s what I’ll cover:
Cultivation and HistoryClivias are native to southern Africa, growing wild in forest understories in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland). They’re also known as clivies, Cape clivias, bush lilies, and klivias.
Members of the same family as amaryllis, Amaryllidaceae, the flowers look similar, but clivia blooms are smaller and grow in bigger clusters. These plants also prefer dappled shade, the opposite of sun-loving Hippeastrum species.
There are six described species of Clivia as noted below with the dates when they were first described, with some only identified fairly recently.
In the wild, most live in the loose leaf litter beneath large
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