Named after Clive of India, the winter-blooming clivia plant is one of the very few house plants that will produce flowers indoors in the dead of winter. The plant has dark green strap-like leaves and trumpet-shaped orange flowers produced in large clusters on stalks. They grow outdoors in countries that do not have cold winters, such as South Africa.
Lady Clive took one from India to England when the British were governing India, and the plant caused a sensation in a greenhouse in Kew Gardens. These plants cannot, of course, survive outdoors there, but have become well known as houseplants that summer outdoors.
In recent years a yellow-flowering variety, which is more expensive, has become available.
Clivia plants are very adaptable and can survive for months without water, but they can be finicky in terms of blooming. They need a rest period of 8-10 weeks in a cool room 40-50 F degrees at night indoors and a temperature of 10 degrees warmer during the day, indoors, with no water or fertilizer. The remainder of their time indoors during the winter, they can live in a variety of temperatures and light conditions and will even exist on shady windowsills.
These showy and easy-to-grow plants do not mind being pot bound for years, so do not rush to divide them.
