Clivias, a very common plant … in Australian gardens … always bloom in their own time without competing with other flowers. May we all bloom in our time in the best season. ” — “WILD BOTANICAL ABSTRACT SERIES” by HSIN LIN, Melbourne
CLIVIA —”A PLANT FOR PATIENT PEOPLE”
BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH
PATTY ALLEN has “a thing” about clivias (pictured above) — which she calls “Plants for Patient People!” That’s why she has “maybe 200 plants” (many beginning to bud out) displayed on growing shelves, resting on steps, grouped in corners (…you name it!) in her beautifully treed acreage in Aldine, just north of Beltway 8. Good thing she’s not a noctivagant!
Never heard of clivias? Don’t feel alone. In the 50+ years of “Lazy Gardener” writings, literally no one asked me about them, except for friends Mickey & Doug January whose beautiful backyard “clump of orange flowers” bloomed faithfully every year! Mickey and (now late) Doug had no idea what they were but they’ve always been worth protecting with a blanket plus cardboard box and whatever else that’s handy. After decades, a second stand has appeared and is blooming as I type this. They are — you guessed it — clivias.
In many countries (including their native South Africa) clivias are considered good luck symbols for happiness, wealth and abundance. In colder climates, clivias are prized as one of the finest of houseplants.
These much-revered cousins of amaryllis will grow outside here — with some protection — producing dramatic periods of glory with almost indescribably gorgeous flowers that may last 2-3 weeks or more.
Now almost 90, Patty Allen still tries to winter-protect her treasures, faithfully covering “most of” her literally hundreds of potted clivias, along with a bounty of other fantastic, should-be-used-more-often plants surrounding her longtime Aldine area home. So Patty can confirm clivias will grow and bloom in the ground with dappled shade and, hopefully, only a little winter protection.
But here’s their paradox: In pots, Clivias bloom better when slightly root bound!. They also bloom well when planted in dappled shade in ground where they CAN’T be root bound! Go figure.
Patty’s advice: Don’t start out cold with these collector plants. First, you need to know:
They like a well-draining soil in a pot not much deeper or wider than their roots. They can remain in the same pot for a few years or until the roots grow so well they decide to escape out of the pot.
An orchid-type chunky soil (good water drainage) works well. Fertilize clivias monthly between Spring and October. Discontinue fertilizer in October and reduce watering to just keeping the soil slightly damp. The large fleshy roots help keep plants moist during their dormant months.
Water with either a liquid fertilizer in the water or time releases granules sprinkled in pot. Let the plants dry out between watering. To test: insert your forefinger down past first knuckle into soil, If dry, water well and let water drain out. Make sure soil is well drained before setting pot back into a saucer if you must use one.
Around the end of January or February, some clivia may show an emerging bloom within the leaf rosette. Apply Super Bloom (or similar. high phosphorus fertilizer) at this time for bigger and brighter blooms.
Most clivia produce flowers that hang down. One exception: the big softball-size, upright yellow blooms of Clivias Miniatas,
usually the clivia that occasionally show up in nurseries and box stores. Buy, enjoy, then be patient! Getting them to rebloom may take a long time, Patty warns.
Miniata clivias have been hybridized with any and/or all other clivia species to try for new and different blooms. Be aware, Patty warns, international prices reflect these efforts for the exceptionally beautiful crosses craved by collectors.
Patty’s been growing these nature plants since 2016. Her sale inventory runs about 150-200 pots at various prices. Her collection (just now coming into bloom) includes mainly the less-commonly-available interspecific Clivias (pendulous blossoms) that range in color from spectacular reds to a wide-variety of pastels.
Ironically, Patty re-emphasizes, clivias require little care. “Just stick them in a pot with enriched well draining soil, water maybe once a week spring thru fall , grow in shade and enjoy the beautiful blooms from maybe late January thru maybe June.”
Hybrid plants, she adds, are usually stronger than either parent and come in different colors and combos of colors. Patty did lose a lot of plants to our recent freezes. Personal problems prevented her protecting them as she would have like to. But MOST survived. And she was able to harvest seed.
Variegated clivias (at least the ones Patty has) produce year-round-lasting green/white striped decorative pods (covering the seeds), just like the leaves. All clivia seeds sometimes remain on plants a long time, even after new blooms appear.
Time has come, Patty has decided, to part with some of her treasures. So she’s planning a sale through daughter, Becky Allen’s home-based Bargains & Blooms shop. Email her for details: pattysclivias@gmail.com
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LIVE & LEARN . . . I didn’t know (or maybe remember) — until the HOUSTON CACTUS & SUCCULENT sent in its May 24 meeting topic — Prickly Pear Cactus is our official “State Plant.” Talk about longterm value, this cactus — both a vegetable and a fruit — has been feeding/curing Texans from our earliest inhabitants to today. Fruits can be eaten raw, the green segments when cooked.
Liliana Cracraft will be expanding on this at the CCSS Wed., May 24 meeting,
7pm at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Cent4er, 1475 W. Gray. Houston Cactus and Succulent Society
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Brenda Beust Smith’s column in the LAZY GARDENER & FRIENDS HOUSTON GARDEN NEWSLETTER is based on her 40+ years as Houston Chronicle’s Lazy Gar,dener
Email: lazygardenerbrenda@gmail.com
Please note: Personal reports must include by your area. My column focuses on gardening
advice ONLY for the Greater Houston area
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NEWS FROM THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOIL AND PLANTS # 233
I normally do not talk about flowers directly since Brenda does such a great job. However, last week while at the farm I found a pleasant surprise growing on a fence line that I wanted to share.
This is one of our native vines (Clematis texensis) commonly known as Scarlet Clematis. It appears quite happy in spite of the drought we have there.
A new study has found that pesticides and other chemicals including artificial fertilizers, alter the electric-magnetic field around flowers. This
alteration makes bumble bees and other pollinators less likely to visit them. PNAS News (2023).
We have known for decades that sound waves in water interfere with whales and dolphins, artificial light confusing moths, and other nighttime insects, disturbing migrations routes, etc. The artificial fertilizers were found to create a sense of noise pollution to the pollinators that prevented them from finding the flowers.
We hear a lot about climate change these days. An article in my Crop Science of America newsletter last year was on peat. Peatlands cover only 3% of
the planet’s surface but hold more carbon than all other vegetation in the world combined.
When we mine peat for peat moss or use peatlands for farming, we turn peat lands from a carbon storage to a carbon source. These damaged peatlands by themselves account for 5% of the annual total anthropogenic carbon emission of carbon dioxide.
When we as gardeners purchase peat or buy plants grown in peat, we are contributing to global warming that is a major cause of climate change.
Gardeners often hear about companion planting and its benefits. A new study from Spain has found another benefit. The study was done in an extremely harsh environment in soils full of gypsum.
They found that mature plants helped smaller ones survive even of different species, a process called facilitation. They found the larger plant shielded the seedlings. The mature nurse plant also produced more and larger flowers.
By studying the plants entire lifetime, they found the benefits build up over time. The leaf litter from the large plant mulched the smaller plant and fed the beneficial fungi in the soil as it decomposed. This led to a series of benefits from more organic matter, better water holding capacity, more microbial density, and diversity, etc.
Probably the most popular vegetable to grow in one’s garden is the tomato. However, modern tomato varieties are very susceptible to disease and insect damage which then require toxic chemicals.
Researchers at Purdue University has found that modern tomatoes are more sensitive because they have lost the protection of microbes in the soil.
They found that wild-type tomatoes are strongly associated with fungus in the soil. Those with the fungus grew larger and resisted disease better than modern plants. Modern varieties have lost their ability to work with soil microbes.
When treated with a beneficial fungus (Trichoderma harziamum) the wild varieties had over a 500% increase in root growth and 90% increase in plant height. When modern varieties were treated there was modest increase in roots (0-50%) and only10-20% increase in height.
The researchers then introduced disease causing pathogens to both wild types and
modern types that had been inoculated with the fungus. The wild types had increased resistance between 56-94% for the pathogens. In modern types the beneficial fungi actually increased disease levels. Another reason to add heirloom varieties to one’s garden.
To increase the levels of beneficial fungi in your soil, mix in some fungal compost into the soil at planting time and mulch the tomatoes with a partially composted (aged) Native Mulch.
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ABOUT US
BRENDA BEUST SMITH WE KNOW HER BEST AS THE LAZY GARDENER . . . but Brenda Beust Smith is also:
- a national award-winning writer & editor
- a nationally-published writer & photographer
- a national horticultural speaker
- a former Houston Chronicle reporter
When the Chronicle discontinued Brenda’s 45-year-old Lazy Gardener” print column — started in the early ’70s as a fun side-project to reporting, it then ranked as the longestrunning, continuously-published local newspaper column in the Greater Houston area. The name, she says, is not just fun, it’s true. Brenda’s gradual sideways step from reporter into gardening writing led first to an 18-year series of when-to-do-what Lazy Gardener Calendars, then to her Lazy Gardener’s Guide book which morphed into her Lazy Gardener’s Guide on CD, which she now emails free upon request. Brenda became a Harris County Master Gardener and, over the years, served on theboards of many Greater Houston area horticulture organizations. She hosted local radio and TV shows, most notably a 10+-year Lazy Gardener specialty shows on HoustonPBS (Ch. 8) and her call-in “EcoGardening” show on KPFT-FM. For over three decades, Brenda served as Assistant Production Manager of the GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA’S “BULLETIN” magazine. Although still an active broad-based freelance writer, Brenda’s main focus now is THE LAZY GARDENER & FRIENDS HOUSTON GARDEN NEWSLETTER with John Ferguson and Pablo Hernandez of Nature’s Way Resources. A native of New Orleans and graduate of St. Agnes Academy and the University of Houston, Brenda lives in Humble, TX, and is married to the retired Aldine High School Coach Bill Smith. They have one son, Blake. Regarding this newsletter, Brenda is the lead writer, originator of it and the daily inspiration for it. We so appreciate the way she has made gardening such a fun way to celebrate life together for such a long time.
JOHN FERGUSON John is a native Houstonian and has over 27 years of business experience. He owns Nature’s Way Resources, a composting company that specializes in high quality compost, mulch, and soil mixes. He holds a MS degree in Physics and Geology and is a licensed Soil Scientist in Texas. John has won many awards in horticulture and environmental issues. He represents the composting industry on the Houston-Galveston Area Council for solid waste. His personal garden has been featured in several horticultural books and “Better Homes and Gardens” magazine. His business has been recognized in the Wall Street Journal for the quality and value of their products. He is a member of the Physics Honor Society and many other professional societies. John is is the co-author of the book Organic Management for the Professional. For this newsletter, John contributes articles regularly and is responsible for publishing it.
PABLO HERNANDEZ Pablo Hernandez is the special projects coordinator for Nature’s Way Resources. His realm of responsibilities include: serving as a webmaster, IT support, technical problem solving/troubleshooting, metrics management and quality control. Pablo helps this newsletter happen from a technical support standpoint.
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