A few months ago I was contacted by a Clivia friend, Bridget Randall, who told me there was a huge Clivia nobilis growing in a garden in the area known as “The Island” in Sedgefield. We all went down to the property and had a look at the plant in question.
What we saw was clearly an old plant with many off-sets. In diameter, it measured about 1.5m but the astounding thing was the height of the plant. The plant measured close to 1.5m from ground level to leaf tip. The leaves are typically nobilis with notched ends.
Unfortunately the owner of the property was away and so we were not able to find out anything about he history of this plant. It is clearly a happy plant, growing in the typically sand-loam found here in Sedgefield.
At the other end of the scale I had a dwarf nobilis plant flowering last spring – the variety known as “East London Red”. This is the reddest nobilis I have yet seen. Even the immature fruits are red. The height of the plant in flower is about 35cm.
We look forward to using this plant in the development of future red interspecifics.
Welland Cowley
Cape Flora
Sedgefield.
See the pictures on Cliviasa.com
