Our first seedlings are blooming that are crosses between Clivia miniata and Clivia gardenii. Many of these are F2 crosses from seeds that we brought back from our first trip to Mr. Nakamura in Japan six years ago. As you can see, many of these are similar, but a few are quite different. Clivia gardenii has a dangling blossom, so the characteristic in these crosses is certainly this feature.
It is hard to choose which is nicer, althogh I tend to like either the green tipped blossoms, or a few of ours that get quite dark pigmentation on the outside of the blossom as it ages. More shots later on those. Regardless, they are all lovely, and I admit, I feel a little luxurious to be able to run to the greenhouse on a cold December day and pick a dozen of the rare crosses, since they are virtually unknown in the trade, unless you belong to one of the Clivia fan groups.
Within the groups, these crosses are sometimes refered to as Cyrtanthiflora types, or more accurately, Clivia cyrtanthiflora group. This comes from the fact that the blossom looks a bit like a Cyrtanthus, another member of the amaryllis family that grows in South Africa.
Wishing all readers the happiest of new years! Post to you in 2007!
