The Clivia Club

I'd never heard of Clivia until one summer, when Mom and I were in our state capitol, shopping at the great Easton Town Center. We were in Smith & Hawken, when she spied a yellow Clivia on sale. I don't remember what she paid for it, but I do remember she was pretty excited to find it, and although it was on sale, I still thought it was plenty to pay for a houseplant.

She had it for a few years and it never bloomed for her, so a couple of winters ago, she asked me if I would take it for the winter. I put it in Jenna's old room, which is kept at a very low temperature all winter, and I watered it now and then. In the spring, I gave it back to her. She then gave it to another gardener, for whom it promptly bloomed. Go figure.

I never gave Clivias another thought until they started popping up here and there in the blogosphere. I'd seen them for sale in catalogs and they still weren't cheap. Park's Seed had seeds, but even those were relatively expensive, and it didn't seem like a plant that would be too easy to grow from seed and that might take forever to reach bloom size.

Then I walked into Meijer a couple of weeks ago and there they were - lots of them - in all their orangey goodness. Like rays of sunshine, they were. When I saw they were $19.99, I quickly dismissed all thoughts of an economic crisis and picked out the best one to come home with me. I was now a Clivia owner!

Jodi, of bloomingwriter fame, left a comment here, stating she was now a member of "The Clivia Club," having bought one of her own. I thought, what a great idea! There are those bloggers out there that are long-time Clivia growers and then there are the newbies like me. Wouldn't it be great if we could all help each other out to ensure success with this very special plant?


So, today is the first day of the rest of The Clivia Club's life. I'll be the President since I'm forming the club, and I'm appointing Jodi as Vice President, since she inspired the idea. I'm not sure we need any other officers, but we do need club members! I'll get my graphic designer daughter to make an official logo for us, that members can post on their blog. I've created a group on Facebook, for those of you who play there.

If you want to be a member of this club, the only requirements are that you own a Clivia. If you want to own a Clivia and want to play along, you can become an honorary member, because you just never know when a Clivia will jump right into your car and follow you home. Just leave a comment here and visit the Facebook page here.

Welcome to The Clivia Club!

Add your name to the Club Roster below: