Notes on Buying Clivia:  Seeds, Plants, Offsets

Seed

When you see an ad for clivia seed you are usually given photographs of two stunning parent plants.  Although you may well grow the seed on to a stunning plant the odds of a show winner (as many parents are) is 1:100.  This translates to only one in 100 seed producing a plant that is similar to either parent or a show winner.  Of the rest of the 100 seed 9 will produce very nice flowering plants and the remaining 90 seed will produce average plants with average flowers.  You are rarely told this by a breeder or seller.  The odds are a quite a bit better with line bred seed where you will get the color you desire but not necessarily the flower count or form of the parents.

Plants

Your odds of getting a plant with a flower similar to the parents are pretty much the same as with seed.  To be sure you like the flower, you should see first bloom.  In line bred plants you can be pretty sure the flower color will match the parents, but not the quality.

Offsets

This is the most reliable means of obtaining a plant that has the same flowering as the parent plant.  There are still rare occasions when the flower will differ significantly from the parent plant.

Chinese Plants

Chinese Clivias are grown for the leaves rather than the flowers.  Many are line bred for a particular leaf form.  Most flowers are predictably orange.  There are some newer varieties with yellow and other colored flowers, but they are not the usual and even when available the seed come at a hefty price.  Again, the rules of seed apply:  you never know exactly what you will get.

Japanese Plants

Many Japanese Clivias are line bred for both leaf form and flower color.  Seed are more likely to conform to the parents due to the line breeding.  If say, you have a Hirao seedling, you will most likely get flowers of a degree of green.  Some will be greener flowers than others and flower quality as well as umble quality can be variable.