Paul, a retired veterinarian, and Sue, a retired teacher, have been breeding and growing Clivias for twenty years. They have lived on their farm, Clivia Kingdom, for thirty six years during which they developed a stud livestock enterprise and propagated medicinal indigenous trees.
Twenty years ago they relocated to a new site on their farm which had two broad dongas packed with many large, beautiful indigenous trees draining into a picturesque dam. They planted all six species of clivias under these trees to create their own Clivia Kingdom. Thirty thousand clivias in their garden now provide a spectrum of colours, shapes and interest throughout the year.
Paul and Sue travelled the length and breadth of South Africa to collect and learn from fellow Clivia enthusiasts. In addition they toured Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Japan, China and USA in order to purchase desirable genetic breeding material for themselves.
They have used some of this material to create their own unique range of clivia, namely massive, full umbel pastels through ‘Blushing Virgin’, and compact broad leaf picotée, splash picotée, green-centred and Tangelos. Their newest addition is their COTY range - plants with soft, velvety versicolours.
Plant and nature lovers are welcome to visit Clivia Kingdom so that they, too, can experience its natural beauty and charm.
BLUSHING VIRGIN
Blushing Virgin is a spectacular pink pastel which normally produces two large, full umbels every year. She is undefeated at every national Clivia show entered and has produced numerous siblings which have also won many awards throughout the country. Sadly in fifteen years she has only ever produced two offsets, but she remains an extremely vigorous breeder, producing spectacular umbels in all colours.
COTY
Our COTY range with its soft, velvety and versicolour patterns was bred from plants originally obtained from Pierre de Coster in Belgium eighteen years ago and hybridized with broad leaf yellows which were then bred back to a selection of de Coster plants.
TANGELOS
Tangelos make up a range of compact, broad leaf true picotée, splash picotée and versicolour flowers, many of which also have prominent green throats. They have been produced over a number of years from two plants originally bought from Kazumi Hattori during a Clivia tour to Japan. We are also striving to breed more multitepal Tangelos through genetic diversity which has improved dramatically thanks to the incredible breeding potential of our ‘Nefertiti Gold’, a compact 100% blush multitepal.
INTERSPECIFICS
We have used the pollen of our extensive range of pendulous plants to create a myriad of interesting shapes, forms and colours. Some truly spectacular and unique results have been forthcoming and our website photos are really worth looking at. Various combinations of pendulous plants on miniatas have allowed us to extend our flowering season considerably.