CLIVIA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Chairman: Chris Vlok, PO Box 99583, Garsfontein 0060,Tel H +27 12998 5942, e-mail: vlokac@wol.co.za

Secretary: Lena van der Merwe, PO Box 74868, Lynnwood Ridge, 0040, Tel & Fax +27 12 804 8892, e-mail: cliviasoc@mweb.co.za

Vice-Chairman: John van der Linde, 1 Wheelan Str., Newlands, 7700Tel & Fax +27 21 671 4535. e-mail: vandal@iafrica.com

Treasurer: Bossie de Kock, PO Box 38539, Garsfontein, 0042, Tel +27 12 998 3620, e-mail: bossiedekock@absamail.co.za

Of fice Bearer: Ken Smith, 593 Hawkesbury Rd., Winmalee, NSW 2777, Australia. Tel +61 2 47543287. E- mail: cliviasmith@hotmail.com

REPRESENTATIVES OF CONSTITUENT CLIVIA CLUBS

Cape: Mick Dower, Ian Brown, Ger t Wiese Eastern Province:Willie le Roux, Charl Coetzee

Nor thern: Lena van der Merwe, Glynn Middlewick, Bossie de Kock KwaZulu-Natal: Sean Chubb

REPRESENTATIVES OF OVERSEAS MEMBERS

Keith Hammet t. 488C Don Buck Rd, Massey, Auckland 8, New Zealand. Tel +64 9 833-9453. E-mail: khammet t@clear.net.nzMichael Morri, P.O. Box 192, Union City, Michigan 49094 USA. Direct enquiries to Michael at ei ther tel. (517) 741-4769 orE-mail: MorriGardens@cbpu.comKen Smith. 593 Hawkesbury Rd., Winmalee, NSW 2777, Australia. Tel +61 2 47543287. E-mail: cliviasmith@hotmail.comAar t van Voorst. Frederick Hendriklaan 49, Hillegom, TE 2181, Netherlands. Tel: +31 252529679; email: a.v.voorst@freeler.nl

OTHER OVERSEAS CONTACT PERSONS FOR MEMBERSHIPAPPLICATION

United Kingdom Michael Jeans. Huglet ts Farm, Huglet ts Lane, Heathfield, E. SussexTN 21 9 BY. Tel +44 143 5 862 318. E-mail: mjeans@saqnet.co.uk.

(Continued on inside back cover)

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ContentsCLIVIA SOCIETY COMMITTEE MEMBERS Inside front cover

EDITORIAL – Meg Hart 2

FROM THE CHAIRMAN – Chris Vlok 3

CLIVIA 2006 – Roger Dixon 4

STORIES BEHIND THE COVER PHOTOGRAPHS – John van der Linde 7

CORRESPONDENCE 11

A Clivia called Oprah? – Cobus Roos 11Notes on photographing clivia – Hannes van Rooyen 12Squirrels in the Clivia - Anonymous 16

FROM THE CLIVIA ENTHUSIAST E-MAIL GROUP 19

Virus symptoms and particles – Keith Hammett 19

INTERNET CLIVIA CHAT – Denise Wilshire 22

PERSONALITY PROFILE – SIR PETER SMITHERS – John van der Linde 24

GARDEN ROUTE/TUINROETE INTEREST GROUP – Gerrie Brits 26

FOR SALE 26

BEGINNER’S LUCK – FLOWER STRUCTURE – Jim Shields 28

ON THE COMPOST HEAP – Meg Hart 28

Views expressed in the newsletter are not necessarily those of the Committee and theClivia Society.

Here we are in 2004 and planning forthe 4th International Clivia Conferencein South Africa is under way.Hopefully this will give overseas visi-tors sufficient time to organize theirschedules for September 2006 and tosave for their fares and expenses.Judging from the quality of the plantson shows in recent years it would bewell worth the while for any clivia fancoming to see our superb clivia andour beautiful country. We look forwardto seeing old and new faces of cliviaenthusiasts for this occasion.

John van der Linde continues toresearch interesting stories behind thecover photographs. Getting somepeople to submit their stories is not assimple as it looks. Remember thatsome growers and exhibitors havehundreds of plants and to get them toremember exactly which one is depict-ed is not at all easy. The names offamous growers like Les Hannibal.Gordon McNeil, Bill Morris, Sir PeterSmithers, Dr. Hariao, YoshikazuNakamura are reflected in the plantsthey have bred. One thing the Editorhas learnt in her 10 years of member-ship that I good plants or seeds shouldbe sought at an early stage in one’scollection. Later one discards the‘ordinary’ clivia in favour of ‘good culti-vars’. If only one followed this adviceat the start! However, when establish-ing a large clivia garden one initiallylooks for quantity rather quality.

An interesting idea has come fromJane Raphaely (Editor of The OprahWinfrey Magazine in South Africa) thatthe Clivia Society selects a clivia to be

named after the famous American tel-evision personality, Oprah Winfrey.Many suggestions have beenreceived and much discussion willhave to be done before a decision canbe taken.

Hannes van Rooyen provides hisexpertise as a photographer in an arti-cle on photographing clivia. Afterreading this one looks at the picturesin the Newsletters and the Yearbooksin a different light. On a lighter note ananonymous person writes of an ingen-ious way of scaring off squirrels whichcaused chaos in his clivia seed boxes.

If readers have wondered what thosepaler coloured stripes and spots areon the leaves of clivia, they are proba-bly due to viruses. Jim Shields won-dered what viruses were causingstreaks on some of his clivia and KeithHammett describes the trouble hewent to to discover what viruses werepresent on plants imported into NewZealand. Denise Wilshire makes herdebut and writes about the activities ofthe ‘chat group’ and her experienceson Internet communication.

John van der Linde has temporarilyrun out of people to discuss in hisseries ‘Early names associated withclivia’, so as C. miniata x kewensis‘Vico Yellow’ is depicted on the backcover of this newsletter he has chosena ‘Personality Profile’ on Sir PeterSmithers.

We now enter the thirteenth year ofthe Clivia Society and hope it goesfrom strength to strength.

Editor.

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Editorial

The following points may be of inter-est to members:

Annual General Meeting: TheKwaZulu-Natal Clivia Club will hostthe Annual General Meeting. Themeeting is scheduled for Saturday 5June at the National BotanicalGardens in Pietermaritzburg. It coin-cides with a Clivia gardenii exhibitionorganised by the host club. Cliviaenthusiasts (our overseas members)are reminded that 5 April is the lastdate to nominate persons to representthis group of members on the CliviaSociety. Detailed information hasbeen posted. Please contact theClivia Society secretary should youhave any questions.

Public Relations: Cobus Roos(Pretoria) has been appointed asPublic Relations Officer of the CliviaSociety. Cobus can be contacted at+27 72 272 3328. His e-mail addressis cobusroos@telkomsa.net. Cobuswill be assisted by Denise Wilshire(Johannesburg) and Colin Wood(Australia). The primary duties ofDenise and Colin will be to representthe Clivia Society on the Yahoo Chatgroup.

Society website: The address of theClivia Society website is www.cliviaso-ciety.org. Clubs/Interest Groups areinvited to make use of this facility.Please appoint a person to liaise withCobus Roos regarding Club news tobe put on the web. We also need acontact person in each club who willtake the responsibility to post photo-

graphs of their annual show for pub-lishing on the website.

Clivia Research: The Society hasdecided to financially support aresearch proposal submitted by ProfW Swart of the Free State University.The study will focus on disease-caus-ing organisms associated with Cliviaspecies in South Africa and their con-trol.

Membership Lists and Results of2003 Shows: Combined internationaland South African membership lists aswell as a list containing the results ofthe various Clivia shows held in SouthAfrica during 2003 were posted toClub secretaries and representativesduring December 2003. Pleaseapproach your secretary or represen-tative should you require these lists –if required in electronic format, it isfree of charge.

Clivia mirabilis: John Winter reportedto the Clivia Society that Cliviamirabilis seedlings would not be readyfor marketing before the end of 2004.He also reported that the NationalBotanical Institute (NBI) has soughtthe approval of the Northern CapeDepartment of Nature Conservationfor the detailed marketing arrange-ments proposed by the NBI. The NBIhas subsequently been advised thatno instructions will be given before themiddle of 2004. When approval isreceived, seedlings will be offered forsale via the NBI website. John Winterhas undertaken to forward the infor-mation to the Clivia Society as soon

3

From the chariman

as it is published on the NBI’s website.

2004 Shows

5 June: Gardenii exhibition - KwaZulu-Natal Clivia Club

12 June: Mini Interspecific Show –Northern Clivia Club

29 May: Gardenii Exhibition – NewZealand Clivia Club

17 July: Waterberg Boslelieklub

24 July: Mini Interspecific Show –Eastern Province Clivia Club

28 August: Annual Exhibition/Show –Waterberg Boslelieklub

4 & 5 September: Annual Show –Northern Clivia Club

4 & 5 OR 11 & 12 September: Annualshow - KwaZulu-Natal Clivia Club

10, 11 & 12 September: AnnualShow/Exhibition – SoutpansbergInterest Group

11 September: Annual Clivia Show –Northern KwaZulu-Natal

11 September: AnnualShow/Exhibition – Free State InterestGroup

18 September: Mini show at Kloof -KwaZulu-Natal Clivia Club

18 & 19 September: Annual Show –Metro Interest Group

18 & 19 September: Annual Show –Cape Clivia Club

25 & 26 September: Annual Show –Eastern Province Clivia Club

2 & 3 October: Annual Show –GardenRoute Clivia Interest Group

9 & 10 October: Annual Exhibition -New Zealand Clivia Club

Clivia greetings,

Chris Vlok

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4TH INTERNATIONAL CLIVIA CONFERENCE

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA

5TH & 6TH SEPTEMBER 2006

On behalf of the Clivia Society and theNorthern Clivia Club, we would like towelcome you to experience the worldof the Clivia and meet with other Cliviaenthusiasts in September 2006 at the4th International Clivia Conference.This will be the highlight of our botani-cal calendar and a showcase fordevelopments in our knowledge of the

genus Clivia and the strides that wehave made in its ennoblement andpopularisation. A magnificent showwill accompany and complement theconference, which will be addressedby speakers from all over the Cliviaworld.

Three major themes have been identi-fied for this conference:

Which way for Clivia future perspec-tives: what do we need to do?

Recording Clivia: the why, the what &

Clivia 2006

the how Nature’s gift: diversity, habitat& evolution.

In addition to invited keynote speak-ers, prospective speakers are invitedto submit a brief summary of their pro-posed presentation so that the prelim-inary program can be drawn up.Abstracts will be invited and the dead-line for their submission will beDecember 2005, with notification ofacceptance by 28 February 2006.The full paper to be published in theconference proceedings must bereceived by 30 May 2006. Onlypapers received by this date will beincluded in the conference proceed-ings.

SHOW

In conjunction with the conference, theNational Clivia Show will be held as ashowcase of the Clivia Growers artwhere the very best of Clivia will be ondisplay. In addition to the many plantson show, top growers will offer a widevariety of plants for sale. Start now toprepare your plants!

AUCTION

An auction is planned as one of thehighlights of Clivia 2006 where aselection of the best Clivias availablewill be up for grabs. Closer to thetime, all the accepted plants will beillustrated on the website as the cata-logue is finalised.

2006 Conference, Shows & ToursProgram

A number of pre- and post-conferencetours have been planned to take theClivia enthusiast around all the Clivia

habitats in South Africa as well as vis-its to as many regional shows as pos-sible in the areas. For many, time islimited so we have tried to compressactivities into the minimum period.The conference is timed for the nor-mal flowering period of C. miniata,which starts in the north, followed bythe east and then the south coast(from west to east). This has deter-mined the timing of the regional showsso we have planned the habitat toursin between them. The show and tourprogram covers most of South Africa’sscenic and botanic areas and isplanned to be unforgettable. This pro-gram is provisional and may changeas planning progresses.

Mon Aug 28 – Fri Sep 1. A tour fromCape Town up the West Coast, enjoy-ing the spring wildflowers ofNamaqualand, including the bulbs andculminating in C. mirabilis country.

Sat Sep 2 – Sun 3. At leisure andtransfer to Pretoria.

Mon Sep 4. At leisure **.

Tue Sep 5 – Wed 6. Conference.Registration will be on Tuesday morn-ing. The conference dinner will be heldon the Tuesday evening and there willbe a social program for theWednesday evening.

Thu Sep 7. At leisure **.

Fri Sep 8 – Sun Sep 10. PretoriaClivia Show, with a highlight being theauction on Friday evening of selectedclivias from around the world.

Sat Sep 9 – Sun Sep 10. At leisure**.

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Mon Sep 11 – Thu Sep 14. Tour tothe scenic eastern escarpment to seeC. caulescens habitats as well as therenowned McNeil collection.

Fri Sep 15. At leisure ** and transferto the next clivia show.

Sat Sep 16 – Sun Sep17. Visit theClivia Shows in Pietermaritzburg,Johannesburg or George.

Sun Sep 17. At leisure ** or transferto Pietermaritzburg.

Mon Sep 18 – Tue Sep 19. Day toursto C. miniata and C. gardenii (includ-ing Swamp) habitats.

Wed Sep 20 – Thu 21. Transfer (air)to the Eastern Cape followed by 1½days of C. nobilis habitat tours.

Fri Sep 22. Transfer to Cape Town bycar or bus via the coastal GardenRoute.

Sat Sep 23 – Sun Sep 24. CapeTown Clivia Show.

Sun Sep 24 – Fri 29. At leisure ** ortransfer to Port Elizabeth.

Sat Sep 30 – Sun Oct 1. PortElizabeth Clivia Show.

At Leisure **. Delegates will be wel-come to make their own arrangementsor to participate in a variety of organ-

ised evening social and 1 to 2 day tourevents, including visiting clivia collec-tions.

Accommodation will be available inthe homes of local enthusiasts or inB&Bs and hotels. We anticipate akeen interest in the proposed pro-gram, so if you are interested in partic-ipating please contact the ConferenceSecretary. This will help us with plan-ning. Full details with costs will bemade available in due course.

Roger Dixon.

Contact Details

For further information or to have yourname added to the mailing list forClivia 2006, please contact theConference Secretary and provide thefollowing information:

Name, postal address, email address,area of interest or participation (con-ference attendance, tour(s), etc.)

Clivia 2006P O Box 74868Lynnwood Ridge0040South AfricaFax: +27 8048892Email: cliviasoc@mweb.co.zWebsite:www.cliviasociety.org

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Photo No. 1 – Front cover

Ian Brown has provided the followinginformation:

This three-year-old plant was placedsecond in the ‘own breeding’ categoryof the Cape Clivia Club Show in 2002.It comes from a cross of an orangeplant grown from seed from MichaelWilletts in California and a yellow plantbred by Bill Morris. Their histories aresimilar in some ways.

In 1994 a Rotary exchange studentfrom Cape Town stayed with theWilletts while in the USA. Michael hadmet me a year previously when hewas in Cape Town, and sent me backsome clivia seed with the student. Hedescribed the seeds as “havingtetraploidal parents”. Two seedsthrived and produced the most vigor-ous plants I’ve known. One wasjudged the best orange in the 1998Cape Show. It is shown in the 1998Yearbook (photo 51). The flowers arelarge with wide petals and a touch ofgreen in the centre.

I crossed seed from these two plantsand was surprised when two out of thelarge batch had unpigmented bases. Iqueried this with Michael and got thefollowing details regarding their breed-ing:

“All of our plants are always crossedwith our better yellows, so the result-ant offspring will produce a certainnumber of yellows. Our yellows origi-nated from a number of clones. Many

of the original crosses were doneusing Gordon McNeil’s ‘Citrinus’, whosent the plant to Les Hannibal, a dearand elderly friend who lived inSacramento. Other clones were asfollows:

Hummels Hybrid – an early poor yel-low from Southern California.

Seedlings from Willi Olivier who livednear Betty’s Bay. These were allorange, with F2’s yellow.

Vico Yellow, which came originallyfrom Sir Peter Smithers.

Kewensis type from EdinburghBotanical Gardens.

An additional Kewensis type fromAustralia – I was told that the seedswere stolen from Kew many yearsago, presumably by a visitor.

Var. ‘Aurea’ – from a western Australiacross.”

In 1999 I pollinated the two plants withpollen from a yellow plant I’d acquiredfrom Fred Gibello. One plant pro-duced about a third yellow seedlingsand the other none. The yellow planthad been grown by Fred from seedfrom Bill Morris. This plant has verylarge flowers with wide petals. Its pho-tograph appeared on the cover of thewinter newsletter in 2003 and its fullhistory is given in that publication. It’sinteresting to note the similar back-grounds of this plant and the orangeone from Michael Willetts. Bill Morris’plant also originates from a yellowfrom Les Hannibal bred from “a wild

7

Stories behind the cover photographs

collected yellow sent to him byGordon McNeil”. Further informationis given by Bill Morris in the article onpage 21 of the 2003 winter newsletter.

Both plants used in my cross havegood broad leaves of about 70mmand large well-shaped flowers withbroad petals. Since 1999 I’ve repeat-ed the crossing and one plant alwaysproduces about one-third yellowseedlings. A few flowered in 2002 andlooked promising. In 2003 a few moreflowered and the results were spec-tacular. The flower on one yellow was105mm across with petals 40mmbroad. Mike Jeans in England had avery good flower on the yellowseedling I’d sent him and Ian Vermaakin George reported green in the centreof the yellow plant he’d been given.An orange flower from the same batchalso had some green in the flower.

The plants grow rapidly and the par-ents sucker well. I’m now eagerlylooking forward to this year’s flower-ing. This cross and others have con-vinced me that the best yellow flower-ing plants come from plants bred fromstrong orange flowers with recessiveyellow and not necessarily from cross-ing two true-bred yellows”.

The names mentioned above - MikeWilletts and Les Hannibal (USA), SirPeter Smithers (Switzerland), FredGibello and Willie Olivier (SouthAfrica), and Bill Morris (Australia) –may bring back memories. Some ofthem were among the earliest mem-bers of the very first internationalgroup of Clivia lovers (many of themkeen breeders of all kinds of bulbousflowering plants), who joined the origi-

nal Clivia Club founded by NickPrimich way back in 1992 andswapped their seeds – John van derLinde

Photo No. 2

Chris Vlok sent us this picture ofPikkie Strumpher’s ‘Rumplestiltskin’.

Pikkie is today a very experiencedclivia breeder in Pretoria and a regularprizewinner at NCC shows. The originof this plant dates back to the earlydays when he first became interestedin clivias, when he, like so many oth-ers, was dead keen on yellows, to theexclusion of other plants.

His very first plant was a Jim Holmesyellow, soon followed by another yel-low from Anna Meyer’s nursery inPretoria. When these plants floweredPikkie put pollen from the Meyer planton to his Holmes yellow. He eventual-ly harvested and planted the seeds,hoping to raise a crop of yellowseedlings for sale to recoup his invest-ment. To his disappointment, many ofthe seedlings had pigmented stems,so when potting-up time came, theywere promptly composted! In duecourse he sold most of the remainingseedlings – all with unpigmentedstems – as yellows, keeping only afew because, by now, with his collec-tion growing, space was becoming aproblem. (This is a familiar story sofar, isn’t it?)

Eventually the plants he kept flow-ered, all were yellows except one,which was different. It had some lightorange on the outside of the petals,which otherwise were cream, just like

8

the inside of the flower, which howev-er had a small much darker throat.Next thing, the throat had lightenedand a lovely light orange flush devel-oped towards the tips of the petals, aspictured in the photo. As you can see,the petals are nicely rounded andhave a good overlap. The flowers are7 to 8 cms across.

‘Rumplestiltskin’ was placed first in the‘Any other colour’ category at the2002 Metro Show. Pikkie then selfedit, but the plant proved self-sterile. So,in 2003 he backcrossed it to the moth-er plant, the Holmes yellow. He wouldalso have liked to cross it back to thepollen parent, the yellow from AnnaMeyer, but he had sold that, longbefore ‘Rumplestiltskin’ had flowered,when he was still focused on yellows,because he wasn’t happy with the pig-mented stem seedlings it bred. Hehad in fact also wanted to get rid of theHolmes yellow, for the same reason,but had kept it for old times sake, as itwas his very first yellow.

Will Pikkie be keeping all theseedlings from this latest cross of his?I understand Rumplestiltskin was a lit-tle man in a fairy tale who turned strawinto gold. Will he again work hismagic this time?

Photo No. 3

This is a picture of the original ‘VicoYellow’, bred by Sir Peter Smithers, anearly member of the old Clivia Club,who is the subject of our ‘PersonalityProfile’ in this issue. The story of it’sbreeding was told by Sir Peter in hisarticle on page 13 of Clivia 2, pub-lished in 2000. Harold Koopowitz

gives a detailed description on pages252 to 254 of his book ‘Clivias’. ‘VicoYellow’ is such a well-known namethat it’s story is worth repeating briefly,with a few comments:

In November 1970 Sir Peter, at hishome in Vico Morcote, Switzerland,acquired a ‘Kewensis Cream’ pale yel-low clivia, and two orange clones fromthe same ‘Kewensis’ group. Theseplants had been bred at Kew,England, in the process of selectingback to recover a lost South Africanyellow. When they flowered he polli-nated the two oranges with pollenfrom his yellow. Seeds were set, har-vested and planted out. Some of theseedlings were discarded under thegreenhouse stage. One grew on thereand subsequently flowered, a yellowwhich seemed to be an improvementon ‘Kewensis Cream’. He rescued it,potted it, and in due course sent off anoffset to his friend Dr Hirao in Japan.

Dr Hirao died and Mr. Y Nakamura ofthe ‘Clivia Breeding Plantation’acquired his collection and amongstthe plants was the ‘Vico Yellow’. Mr.Nakamura described it as the “world’sbest clivia, the one to beat”. This wasback in the mid 1980s. SubsequentlyC. miniata x kewensis ‘Vico Yellow’was registered in Japan and micro-propagated by Miyoshi and Co. formass distribution. As HaroldKoopowitz says, “This clone has beenso widely distributed all over the worldthat we can expect it to play an impor-tant role in the future breeding of yel-low clivias.”

Mr. Nakamura used his offset from theoriginal ‘Vico’ plant in his breeding

9

programme because of it’s specialgenetic qualities (See ‘Clivias inJapan’ by Shigetaka Sasaki in Clivia3): ‘Vico Yellow’ hybrids produce largeflowers with good forms and with well-reflexed petals, though the plants tendto be a bit large for Japanese tastes.He says that ‘Vico Yellow’ pollen isvery fertile and produces a good seedset. Because each seed tends to belarge the total seed crop may besmall. “When you use ‘Vico Yellow’pollen only once (e.g., (orange x yel-low) x Vico Yellow) it is possible to geta high percentage of good flowers withtwice the size of the usual C. miniataand also with good rolled and wavedpetals”.

Are the tissue-cultured plants avail-able today any different from the orig-inal? I am told that the process ofmicro-propagation can lead to somegenetic mutation, though the effectsmay not be visible. What can possiblyalso have an effect is the selection ofplants for growing on, out of the manyplantlets produced. For example,maybe only the stronger-growing onesare chosen. Maybe readers whoknow about the subject can tell usmore?

Do such differences, if any, make‘Vico Yellow’ meristems any less suit-able for use in a breeding pro-gramme? There are today manysuperb plants with ‘Vico Yellow’ –whether original or micro-cultured – intheir backgrounds, which I would con-sider to be improvements on the origi-nal. What do you think?

Photo No. 4

Chris Viljoen has been growing cliviassince 1991, though he only joined theNorthern Clivia Club in 1996. Duringthat period he accumulated over 40000 plants, which he grows under net-ting at his home in Waverley, Pretoria.He has yellows but specializes inoranges, pinks and other pastelcolours. He says he is always on thelookout for plants with green throatsand other ‘oddities’, which he selectswhen he sees his plants in flower.

He entered the plant seen in the pho-tograph from his vast collection in the2002 NCC show, where it was placedfirst in the section for pinks (oneumbel). It is similar to the well-known‘Ella van Zijl’ - though paler and with adifferent-shaped and smaller umbel -in that it also has a lovely dusty sheento its well-shaped petals. Petals,which ‘sparkle’ as much as this, seemto be quite a rare feature in clivias. Inthe case of ‘Ella’ the sparkling sheendoes not appear to be inherited by itsoffspring. It will be interesting to seeChris’s results from breeding with thisplant.

Coincidentally, Chris has a very simi-lar pink-flowering plant, which wasfeatured on the front cover of theAutumn 2003 Newsletter. The twoplants are totally unrelated.

Photo No. 5

Tino Ferero tells us about this beautyof his:

The variegated broad leaf with flowerpictured here was the class and sec-tion winner in ‘class 16B’ at the NCC

10

show in September 2002. Some ofthe florets are multipetal and the num-ber of multipetals varies from year toyear.

While visiting Dr. Bing Wiese aboutfive years ago, I was admiring some ofhis daruma-type variegateds with veryattractive striations on the leaves.They were by then about four yearsold, and had not flowered yet. Heexplained that they had been grownfrom seed imported by the Clivia Clubfrom Mr. Yoshi Nakamura. He alsowent on to tell me that he was not real-ly interested in the variegateds andthen asked me whether I would likesome of them. When I replied that Iwould love to have some, he said thatI could choose any two of them. WhenI asked him what he was going tocharge me he said that they were apresent that he was giving me. I washumbly grateful for his very kind ges-ture.

It was a difficult choice. There wereabout 10 very beautiful plants from

which to choose, and I managedeventually to pick two real beauties.Both have already flowered threetimes for me.

When Shigetaka Sasaki from Japanvisited me in 2002, he was also veryimpressed by the two plants andremarked that they should do well forme in my breeding programme. Theydo not self very well, but I have for thelast two years been pollinating themwith pollen from other multipetal varie-gated darumas in my collection. Goodheads of seed have set and some ofthe seedlings already look promising.

In closing I would like to report that inthe past Dr. Bing Wiese was not reallyinterested in the variegateds and usu-ally gave away all the variegateds thatspontaneously grew from his ownlines. This has now changed, and hehas become interested in the variegat-eds. At present he has a very attrac-tive collection.

John van der Linde.

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CorrespondenceA Clivia called ‘Oprah’?

Dear John Winter

Further to our telephone conversationtoday I have pleasure in confirmingthe details of our query. AssociatedMagazines publishes: The OprahWinfrey Magazine in South Africa.

Oprah Winfrey has just turned 50 and

we have decided that the most appro-priate way to celebrate that here is toname a new strain of one of SouthAfrica’s most beautiful flowers afterher. We are unanimous that thisshould be a clivia. We wonderedwhether any of the members of TheClivia Society might have a suitablenew strain which they would like to

have used in this way?

We will publicise this in the magazineand though we are not sure whetherUS regulations will permit us to sendher any plants, or whether they wouldgrow in Santa Monica which is whereshe lives when she is not working, wewould be able to send her photo-graphs. Perhaps Kirstenbosch wouldbe prepared to have some of them intheir nursery garden.

We would be very grateful to have fur-ther input from you and your membersand please come back to me if youneed further information.

Best Wishes,

Jane RaphaelyEditor in Chief: The Oprah WinfreyMagazineCEO Associated Magazines.

Reply from the Clivia Society PublicRelations Officer

This has created a great opportunity inthree main respects.

1. To promote clivia globally

2. To honour one of the great philan-thropists of our time

3. Give international recognition to theplant/strain chosen.

We call on our members to submit, viaphotographs, plants that they havewhich could be used in this manner. Itis not necessary that a strain alreadyexists, but a strain should be devel-oped from the initial mother plant indue course. The mother plant willobviously be called ‘Oprah’, and the

strain developed from it will then bereferred to as the ‘Oprah strain’. Theowner must be willing to donate an off-set/sucker of the plant, which will bepresented to Oprah Winfrey. Thename will be registered with KenSmith, the Registrar of Clivia Namesfor the Society.

Anyone interested can submit theirphotos to cobusroos@telkomsa.net,or post it to Clivia Society PRO, P OBox 276, Rayton, 1001. It is request-ed that you also furnish us with somedetail regarding the plant’s origin, aswell as its features such as leaf width& length etc.

A selection process will determinewhich plant will carry the name‘Oprah’. Please get your submissionsin as early as possible.

Cobus RoosPRO Clivia Society

Notes on photographing Clivia

Prologue

Michael Jeans has written a very goodarticle on photography in Clivia 3, asalso James Comstock in the Autumn1999 Newsletter (Vol. 8, No. 1 page5). I recommend that you refer tothem again to comply with their pub-lishing needs.

In this attempt I hope to help you ‘howto D.I.Y’. and apply basic principles toproduce photos for your joy and forpossible publication.

1 Camera

1.1 Both film and digital cameras aresuitble. Digital units have the advan-tage of correcting unwanted details

12

through computer program-mes. (2002 Vol. 11 No. 3).

1.2 A ‘zoom’ lens is very valuable tohelp you fill your negative/framewith sub- ject matter.1.3 Studio lighting (any other will alsodo), or built-in flash can be used whennatural light is inadequate.

2 Equipment

2.1 A tripod is essential when thezoom is used because it stabilises theshot to give needle sharp photoswhich are so necessary for reproduc-tion.2.2 When using lighting, flash or alter-native, it is advisable to use ‘bounce’,diffused or reflected light to soften theshadows. Modern flash units haveblades that may be adjusted forbounce flash. Round white car heatreflected placed in the windshield areexcellent aids for reflected light, notthe shining ones. They may be hungon an extra lightweight tripod.2.3 Studio lighting (tungsten or mercu-ry vapour) give a red/orange cast onthe film. This can be eliminated byusing a tungsten filter, light blue incolour, fitted to the front of the lens.Fluorescent tubes give a green caston the film and may be corrected by apale pink/orange filter.2.4 Generally flash is inclined to givevery hard shadows in photographs.Bounce flash or a diffuser may softenthis. The advantage of flash is that itgives true colour corrections on film.Newer types of flashes automaticallyread camera/subject distance, lightvalue and expose correctly accordingto camera settings, however they are

very expensive. When two or threeflashes are used a flash meter isrequired to determine light values atthe subject. From these readings, thecamera is then set for correct expo-sure.By using backlighting which is not vis-ible in the shot, amazing effects canbe achieved. A ‘small’ flash is verysuitable for this purpose – long flashrelease cables can be used but one isinclined to trip over them. Flasheswith slave units (automatic triggering)are very useful. It is still best to usediffusers in front of the flashes toreduce harshness of light.2.5 Polarising filters. Experience offlower shots over many years hasshown that flowers have a ‘sheen’which reflects light to such an extentthat the results on film and digitalshow as white patches on the peri-anths (petals) and leaves, and a lossof colour (See Clivia Four, page 46,photograph nos. 69 & 71; Clivia Five,page 55, photograph nos. 69, 70 &72). By using polarizing filters in frontof film and digital cameras the sheenis removed and the correct coloursand detail revealed. There are twotypes of polarizing filters:2.5.1 ‘Linear’ type as used on older

cameras which do not auto focus. Yourotate the filters until glare is removedand then shoot. You may also need tocompensate by slower shutter oflonger aperture due to loss of light.

2.5.2 ‘Circular’-type used on autofocus and digital cameras – they donot need adjustment but still removethe glare. Often salesmen of digitalcameras may tell you that a ‘polarizing

13

filter’ is built in, but it is not effective –do trials and experiment if it is effec-tive.

3 Set-up

A brick wall with mortar joints, or woodpaneling, or other plants can be verydisturbing backgrounds. See CliviaFour, page 28, photo. 30).

3.1 By having coloured paper to placebehind the subject matter, such distur-bances would be eliminated. It isstrange how such detail can distractone’s attention from the subject, andlet one’s eyes wander about. Thepaper can be stiffened by a dowelacross the top, and supported by alight tripod – it now becomes the‘backdrop’. Use a contrasting colourto that of the umbel, leaves or berries(see 5.2). Coloured paper/boardsmay be obtained from artist supplyshops or photographic dealers.3.2 It is important to eliminate hardshadows on the backdrop by using dif-fused secondary lighting or flashes, orby using reflectors with natural light tosoften shadows and bring out detailsof the subject. Alternatively move thesubject away from the backdrop until

shadows disappear.3.3 Photographing Clivias in the wildcan be a problem. Other plants createthat unwanted disturbing background.A cloth with dowel across the top andsuspended by strings may serve thepurpose as backdrop. Try to eliminatethe folds in the cloth.

4 Important points

You need to decide ‘what’ you want tophotograph:

4.1 A single flower or perianth - ± useƒ4.5 – ƒ5.64.2 The whole umbel - ± use ƒ8 – ƒ114.3 The whole plant - ± use ƒ11 – ƒ224.3.1 Take care not to crop-off (cut off

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with the frame of the camera) part ofthe subject (see Clivia Five, page 88,photos. 131 & 132, page 108; page108, photo 152).4.4 Select a suitable contrasting back-drop (see 5.2).4.5 Decide on lighting:4.5.1 Natural with reflectors to soften

shadows and highlight detail.4.5.2 Flash or studio-type lighting withdiffusers or brollies (reflectors).4.6 When photographing a singleflower (perianth) a large apertureseems to enhance the isolation andoften gives a ‘3-D’ effect. Focusing isvery critical at this stage, and shouldfocus on the stamens.4.6.1 Depth of field (D.O.F.) is thefocus ability of the lens to render thesubject sharp in focus, in direct rela-tion to the ƒ stop (or lens opening). Aƒ3.5 or lower aperture has a very shal-low depth of sharp focus field e.g.photo of a single flower: focus on sta-mens and the front and back rim of theflower may be out of focus. A smallƒ11, 16, 22 may give everything sharpin focus from 1cm in front of the cam-era to ±100¼ which is the principle ofpoint and shoot cameras.4.6.2 Shutter speeds vary with thelens opening and available light:Large apertures may have fast shut-

ter speeds and shallow D.O.F.Small apertures may have slow shut-

ter speeds and great D.O.F.4.6.3 ‘Close-up’ shots: There are veryexpensive ‘close-focus’ lenses butexperience has taught that they do notgive good results. They reduce theD.O.F. to almost flat-type work. It wasfound that the ‘zoom’ lens moved±2cm from the subject and then‘zoomed-in’ to fill the frame gives

greater D.O.F. and fills the frame fareasier than ‘close-up’ lenses. Try yourzoom and see what good results youget.

5 Remarks

Modern auto focus cameras are allprogrammed to shoot at the ƒ5.6. Youmay need to go into ‘manual’ mode toselect your aperture of choice.

5.1 When you preselect your workingaperture, the camera meters the lightand sets the shutter speed for correctexposure. The camera automaticallycompensates for ‘polarizing filters’.5.2 Compare the following shots fromyour ‘Clivia Five’ yearbook to under-stand the principles outlined above,and see which shots you like best.The whole exercise is intended as alearning experience and not criticismof the photos present.5.2.1 Page 8 No. 7 – light grey back-ground, lovely shot5.2.2 Page 12 No. 13 – used a largeaperture to throw the background outof focus5.2.3 Page 22 No. 21 - the light bluebackground enhances the orangeumbel.Page 22 No. 20 & page 77 No. 119 –

the light blue background does notseem to let the plants stand out.Compare these with Page 40 No. 33 –medium blue backdrop which seemsto enhance the yellow blooms.5.2.4 Page 25 Nos. 24 & 25 – the darkbackdrop shows up the umbels beau-tifully.5.2.5 Page 25 No. 35 – Almost in 3-Deffect, shadows on the backdrop indi-cate that the plant was too close to thebackdrop, and this usually happens incramped show conditions which can-

15

not be helped.5.6.6 Pages 40 & 41 Nos. 32, 33, 36 –various backdrops which enhance theflowers.5.6.7 Page 46, No. 41 – Good photo ofa winner plant with no cut-off leaves orflowers and a good choice of back-drop.5.6.8 Page 48, No. 44 – Lovely shot of‘Lovely Rita’, with another backdropmuch of the detail could have beenlost.5.6.9 Page 49, No. 49 – To me theumbel has been cropped too severely,but this may have been done by theeditors5.6.10 Page 105, No. 152 – Here theberries are cut off at the top and thebackground is very disturbing. Asmaller aperture could have beenmore successful.5.6.11 *Page 109, No. 154 - There is agood contrast between flower andbackdrop, but a pity about the lightingcasting shadows in the perianths(flowers).5.7 With the above features underyour control you should be confidentto take good photos of your ‘children’which you enjoy so much. Remembercircumstances may not be controllable– but ‘go for it’, do your best and‘enjoy’.

Hannes van Rooyen.Hannes van Rooyen was a Lecturer inphotography in the Department ofInterior Design at the TechnikonWitwatersrand from 1982 to 1993 in allaspects of photography. Editor.

Squirrels in the Clivia

Some time ago the issue of squirrelsin the garden and specifically in theClivia was raised in this Newsletter.Well, we have a serious problem withlegions of squirrels descending fromthe lofty heights onto our house andinto the garden. Every seed box withyoung Clivia and other seedlings wasdug up and the plants buried or leftoutside to die. All the big pots werereplanted with pecan nuts. The youngnuts were tasted in bunches andstrewn everywhere. Hundreds of theyoung brown figs were picked, tastedand dropped.

We tried almost everything – coveringthe trays with thorn branches; tyingplastic bags to sticks and planting thisamongst the pots; shouting at the littlecritters; even catapulting them withlitchi pips and later hard ammunition.Our neighbour’s dog learned of ourinvasion and tried to help, but over-turned and trampled dozens of potsand trays in his yelping chase.

Numerous experts had no solution.An elderly friend with the same prob-lem prayed at a Bible Study group:“Lord, we know that you have madeeverything and all the little animals aredear to You, but please Lord, can’t youfind a place for the squirrels far fromus?” Apparently that helped for her,but perhaps I am one of those with toolittle faith, for neither my prayers normy curses were effective.

One day, while looking at the trays fullof freshly dug holes, I wondered howNature keeps the animal species outof each other’s territory (or plants). At

16

the same time the morning coffee anda large glass of juice made me feel theurge to urinate. Then I realized: innature the larger, more dominant andaggressive animals mark their territoryclearly and abundantly. This issmelled and the message obeyed bythe smaller, pesky ones. So, beinglarger and very aggressive even if notdominant, I clearly and abundantlymarked the boundaries of my traysand small pots.

A few days later, my wife said: “Youknow, it is strange, the squirrels arenot into the seed trays anymore. Iwonder why, because they are still in

the trees and over the roof?” Andsome time afterwards: “That new fertil-izer has a strong smell, haven’t youused too much?” From me, a slysmile, but no comment.

Now, some two months later, thesquirrels are still keeping away fromthe seedling trays and I am consider-ing patenting my organic solution tothe problem.

But now my next problem is: how toget up high enough into the branchesof the pecan nut and fig trees?

Anonymous.

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Added from the Clivia Enthusiast E-Group.

Hi All

There has been interest in contribu-tions on the dispersal of clivia seed,and the menagerie has grown by two.

During a recent visit, Nakkie andPhillip Theron of Johannesburg told usthat in the Eastern Cape dassies(photo) take clivia berries. Dassies(the South African name) or hyrax orrock rabbit, are wide spread in south-ern Africa. They are a bit bigger thanan ordinary rabbit.

During the same visit, GrahamGoodwin, who lives about 40 km westof Pretoria, told us that he has hadproblems with tree squirrels (photo)stealing his clivia berries, eating offthe peel and leaving the seed in neatlittle heaps, as has been reported pre-viously for rodents.

Dassies’ habitats in some cases over-lap with clivia, but that is not the casewith tree squirrels which are found inthe drier bushveld areas, where weguesstimate an annual rainfall of 650mm or less compared to our guessti-

mate of 800 mm or more for clivia.

For overseas enthusiasts in particular,tours during the September 2006Conference programme will give anopportunity to learn more about theorigin of our favourite genus, and wehope that you are starting to plan yourvisits. Preliminary details will soon beposted on www.cliviasociety.org

With best wishes

Connie and James Abel

Graham Goodwin is not the contribu-tor of the ‘Anonymous’ letter. Editor.

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19

From the Clivia enthusiasts e-mail groupVirus symptoms and particles

4 February 2003

I have recently been involved in alengthy investigation comparing avirus infection of Clivia identified inimported plants held in quarantinewith virus-infected plants already inNew Zealand. This work has beencarried out in association with scien-tists of the New Zealand Ministry ofAgriculture and Forests [MAF], plusoverseas laboratories. I have alsotaken photos of virus symptoms.

I intend to write a brief report on thiswork as time permits. Not this week -North Island National Dahlia Show thiscoming weekend. Yes, there are othergenera with six letters that end in ‘ia’besides Clivia.

Do not expect too much, far more timeand resources are required forresearch in many areas concerningthe Clivia, in addition to viruses andother pathogens.

Clivia Clubs around the world couldwell consider helping to fund researchin areas such as virus infection. A welldirected MSc or PhD student canachieve a great deal relatively cheap-ly. Talk to your local University toexplore opportunities.

Keith Hammett, Auckland, NewZealand.

15 September 2003

I just had some clivias tested at an

Indiana laboratory (Agdia, Elkhart, IN)for apparent virus infection. They didnot find any of their usual list of agri-culturally significant viruses, but Iwould like to know what viruses havebeen confirmed in Clivia in the past,and where these might be tested for.

Can anyone help me? I don’t haveaccess to the plant pathology litera-ture, but I can forward any literary ref-erences on to the nursery inspectors.

Viruses tested for, and their abbrevia-tions:

Alfalfa Mosaic Virus AMVArabis Mosaic Virus ArMVBroad Bean Wilt Virus BBWVChrysanthemum Virus B CVBCucumber Mosaic Virus CMVImpatients Necrotic Spot Virus INSVPrunus Necrotic Ringspot Virus PNRSVTobacco Mosaic Virus TMVTobacco Ringspot Virus TRSVTobacco Streak Virus TSVTomato Aspermy Virus TAVTomato Mosaic Virus ToMVTomato Ringspot Virus ToRSVTomato Spotted Wilt Virus TSWVPotyvirus Group POTY

Jim Shields.

20 September 2003

Here are two images of plants that Isuspect are virus infected, but whichdid not test positive for that panel ofknown plant viruses of agricultural sig-nificance. It certainly does not have tobe a known agricultural virus to be in

clivia, of course. What does everyonethink?

If these are virus infected, I cannot riskkeeping them in my greenhouses thiswinter with all the other plants.

Jim Shields in a quandary in Indiana

22 September 2003

Hello Jim,

I have very similar streaking on theleaves of 3 of 5 cyrtanthiflora plants

which I purchased bare-rooted from aweekend market. I believe theseplants have been around for umpteenyears and have vegetatively propagat-ed themselves and some would quitelikely have acquired perhaps a virus.Two of the plants showed symptomsnot long after I potted them. The thirdonly showed streaking on the youngleaves when it started sending up aflower stem. The streaking is particu-larly prominent on the flower stem.Fairly certain the streaking is not theresult of insect attacks, at least notabove ground.

The symptoms remind me of streakingon the leaves of Liliums affected byone of the mosaic viruses. The Liliumplants would appear disease-free untilthey are split up and transplanted orwhen they start to flower.

Regards,

Ling (Hobart).

28 September 2003

A few years ago James Abel went to alot of trouble to bring together a collec-tion of different Clivia plants that Iwanted to test. I am very grateful to

20

James for doing this and for the gen-erosity of several people in SouthAfrica who provided the plants. NewZealand has some of the strictestbiosecurity regulations in the world,which makes the importation of plantsever more difficult and expensive. Asa consequence one needs plenty ofjustification to import plants ratherthan seed.

A requirement of importation for Cliviais that plants be held in approvedclosed post entry quarantine facilitiesfor a specified period of time, so thatthey may be regularly inspected toensure that they are free of pests anddiseases.

During the quarantine period one plantshowed symptoms which suggestedthat it might be infected with a virus.Specimens were taken for tests.Serological tests were inconclusive,but examination under an electronmicroscope revealed virus particles.

As the whole importation was at risk ofbeing destroyed, I paid to have everyplant examined. Two further plants ofdifferent species showed low levels ofvirus particles, although neithershowed any symptoms.

I had long suspected that virus infec-tion of Clivia already existed in NewZealand as well as elsewhere. I pro-vided leaves showing the symptomsas displayed in the attached image.These showed high levels of virus par-ticles.

My argument was that if it could beshown that the virus in the importedSouth African plants was the same as

that which already existed here inNew Zealand, there was no reason todeny entry.

A range of tests was carried out herein New Zealand and transmission tosome herbaceous indicator plants wasaccomplished with the recovery ofvirus particles.

Particles were variously described asflexuous rod shaped or rod shapedand these ranged in size from 300 -1200 nm in length and were observedfrom both the imported and localplants.

Material was sent to laboratories inboth the USA and UK for amplificationin order to more specifically identifythe virus(es). It was determined thatthe particles from both long estab-lished New Zealand plants and theimported plants held in quarantinewere infected with a Potexvirus, butexisting technology was not sufficient-ly sensitive to establish beyond rea-sonable doubt whether we were deal-ing with one, or more than one strainof the Potexvirus.

The appended illustration is of value inas much as we have a clear linkagebetween a symptom and an infectiveparticle. As always much moreresearch needs to be carried out.

I have to acknowledge the coopera-tion of scientists and other staff asso-ciated with the New Zealand biosecu-rity service. They have released thesurviving plants which showed nosymptoms or virus particles, albeitafter more than two years. Furtherthey have allowed me to make prisonvisits and take root tip samples of Pat

21

Gore’s suspected Swamp Clivia tocheck out the karyotype. This hasindeed shown the diagnostic SwampClivia karyotype.

Hope this is of some help Jim Shields.

You started it.

Kind regards,

Keith Hammett, Auckland, NewZealand.

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Internet Clivia chatLet me introduce myself. I havealways known the genus Clivia. WhenI was a small girl, my grandmotherhad a tub of clivia on her stoep [veran-dah] in Cape Town. They seemed tothrive on the dregs of the teapot. A rel-ative of this plant now grows freely inmy garden. It has traveled the lengthand breadth of South Africa - from thehot dusty Karoo town of Victoria West,over to Beaufort West and then fromsuburb to suburb around Cape Town,back to the Eastern Cape and nowfinally to Gauteng. I assume that theoriginal plant was harvested from thewild in the early 1930’s. Long beforemy birth you understand!!! Apart fromthe pretty blooms, its hardiness isprobably what attracted me to thegenus.

I have only recently had the time toindulge myself as the pressures ofwork, family and life in general did notpermit me to become involved with aplant collection. And what an indul-gence that has become! Five yearsago, there was a couple of store-bought Belgians and Grandma’s cliviain my possession. Now I shudder tothink of the hundreds of plants thatcram every corner of my life. In doorsand outside my home. Even my fridgehas been involved in clivia care.

How did this happen? The Internet.Yes blame it all on the Internet. I ampart of a wonderful group of ‘clivia-holics’, who chat on a daily basis. Weswap seeds and sometimes buyplants from each other. We sharephotos of our latest blooms and dis-cuss at length the merits of certainproducts and plants. This group ismade up of scientists and lay folk; themagic bond we share is our love ofclivia. Our aim is to improve andexpand our growing experience bysharing tips and hints. Sometimes thechat is very technical and I have towrite down all ‘complicated’ stuff andresearch it later on. Generally there issomeone out there who can explain itto me in everyday language and thisgets me up to speed. This is not ageneral situation though.

Recently our Northern Hemispherefriends were debating the merits ofusing a gel to germinate their seeds.In warmer climates, we don’t usuallyhave to resort to fancy methods to getour seeds started, but growers in cold-er areas often have a slower germina-tion rate, which can cause a few cost-ly losses. They report that as it is asterile medium, fewer seeds are lostand the ‘Swellgel’ method protectsagainst seedlings drying out due toneglect or indoor heating. I will prob-

23

ably give this a try as and when myseeds arrive from overseas during ourwinter months. The product goesunder the name of ‘Terrasorb’ in SouthAfrica. Frequently found in potting soilfor tubs.

One of the advantages of our InternetGroup is that I can chat individuallywith folk from other countries. And Ido!

Just recently, I have been enjoyingphotos from New Zealand and takingpeek into the gardens of KeithHammett and Di Smith. “Sorry aboutthe floods folks”. On the same day, Iwas able to view some beauties fromToy Jennings and Dickie Gunston bothin the Cape. Dickie posted images ofhis prolific bloomer ‘Rabbit. “Love thatplant Dickie!”

I observed some root problems, which

Bryan Paten of the Australian CliviaSociety had posted and viewed someoff-season bloomers from JohnCraigie also of Australia. I had a oneon one chat with Tom Wells inCalifornia and learned of their impend-ing show and conference. “Wish thatI could be there”. All this without leav-ing my seat.

I sure have come a long way from thatsingle clivia plant to where I am now.But I do realize, that even though theInternet has given me a fast track togreater knowledge and an ever-grow-ing collection of my favourite plants, Istill have a long way to go to catch upwith the ‘fundis’ out there.

From my luxury chair in front of thecomputer, till next time.

Denise Wilshire

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Personality profile – Sir Peter SmithersI have written elsewhere in thisNewsletter about C. miniata x kewen-sis ‘Vico Yellow’ (more commonlyknown as ‘Vico Yellow) pictured on theback cover, so it seems a good timealso to write about its breeder, SirPeter Smithers, a member of theClivia Society living in Vico Morcote, inSwitzerland.

He is a man of many parts: a garden-er throughout his life, and also schol-ar, historian, barrister, naval officer,diplomat, member of Parliament, cab-inet minister, delegate to the UnitedNations, international civil servant, lin-guist, senior research fellow, author of

two books, renowned plant hybridiserand an award-winning photographer.In his 80’s Sir Peter also began ‘gar-dening on the Internet’ through hismembership of various discussion e-groups.

Peter Henry Berry Otway Smitherswas born in Yorkshire in 1913, educat-ed at Harrow School, the alma materof Winston Churchill, and OxfordUniversity, where he also became avery young Fellow of the RoyalHorticultural Society. He graduated in1934 with first class honours in mod-ern history before training to be a bar-rister.

During the Second World War, afterservice at sea he worked in NavalIntelligence in Paris, London,Washington and Central America,where he collected and grew orchidspecies, palms and aroids. Hedescribes the latter appointment as agardener’s idea of heaven. He methis future wife, an American, in Mexicoin 1943.

After the war he began gardeningagain at his home in England, whiledeveloping his political and diplomaticcareer, until, in 1964, he was electedSecretary General of the Council ofEurope, based in Strasbourg, France.He retired from this post five yearslater and was knighted in 1970. Bynow he and his wife had moved to thevillage of Vico Morcote above LakeLugano in Switzerland, where theybuilt a house and laid out a garden.This area has one of the best garden-ing climates in Europe, and a verywide range of plants can be grownsuccessfully there. So that is wherethe name ‘Vico’ in ‘Vico Yellow’ comesfrom.

Sir Peter’s specialties were magno-lias, tree peonies and lilies and he reg-istered a number of hybrids. The gar-den was also “stuffed full of bulbousplants of every kind” (his words). Hisambitious 30-year breeding pro-gramme in Nerine sarniensis ended in1995 with the sale of the entire collec-tion to Exbury Gardens in the UK. Bythen Sir Peter had produced manycultivars, notably in the purple colourrange. You can see some of thesestunning flowers on pages 56 and 57of Graham Duncan’s booklet ‘Grow

Nerines’ in the KirstenboschGardening Series (‘Grow Clivias’ isalso found in this series).

By the way, did you know that there ismore than one ‘Vico Yellow’? SirPeter visited Burma, obtained bulbs ofLilium sulphureum and, you guessedit, began a breeding programme. Talkto any lilium fan and they will tell youabout his famous ‘Vico Yellow’ lilium!

Wait; there is more to come. Sometime in his late 50’s Sir Peter begantaking amateur photographs of hisplants. This casual interest developedinto a more serious activity. EightRHS photography gold medals and 23one-man international exhibitionslater…! The President of the RHS haswritten: “Sir Peter may have someequals around the world as a garden-er, but probably none as a plant pho-tographer”.

Maybe you own a ‘Vico Yellow’ clivia,or a Nakamura ‘Yellow x Vico Yellow’.I hope that reading about this amazingman – now in his 90’s and still a mem-ber of the Clivia Society, having beenan early member of it’s predecessor,the Clivia Club – who bred so manybeautiful plants, will inspire you in yourown breeding (and photography?)efforts and will add to your enjoymentof your plants.

John van der Linde.

Information obtained from ‘Inter-national Who is Who’, and Sir PeterSmithers’ acceptance speech of theHerbert Medal in ‘Herbertia’.

John van der Linde.

25

26

Garden Route/Tuinroete interest groupAt a recent meeting in January there wasa unanimous decision to change our namefrom ‘The Southern Cape Interest Group’to ‘The Garden Route/Tuinroete CliviaInterest Group’. We felt that the name is afriendly garden orientated name which isalso a very familiar environment to every-body in South Africa. Our area will covermore or less the coastal region fromPlettenberg Bay in the east to Heidelbergin the south. Oudtshoorn will be an unde-fined northern boarder for us as there areno members further north. Anybody out-side these undefined/imaginary boarderswill naturally be very welcome to be includ-ed as a member of our group and partici-pate in our activities.

We have about 50 paid up members in theGarden Route environs and hope toincrease our membership to become anindependent club in future, which will thenbe known as The Garden Route/TuinroeteClivia Club. Forty members, indicating theenthusiasm for the clivia plant in theGarden Route, attended our first meetingthis year in January. Hopefully we will

keep going strong! Our first Show last yearwas attended by about 1300 people andturned out to be a huge success. Thisyear we plan to have our show over theweekend of 2/3 October. Needless to say,anybody is welcome to participate in theshow.

I want to invite anybody visiting our regionto let us know and pop in for a cup of tea,a clivia stroll and maybe sell, buy orexchange interesting plants and experi-ences. My contact numbers are 0448746233 or 0827385842 and if I am notavailable I will make sure that at least oneof our committee members will be avail-able. We are looking forward to visitorsfrom the other regions. I wish everybody avery vigorous clivia season!

Regards

Gerrie Brits(Chairman)

GERRIE BRITS Hop Breeder SAB HopFarms Tel: +27 044 8028420 Fax: +27 0448707550 Cell: 0827385842Gerrie.Brits@za.sabmiller.com

For SaleAdvertisements. Tariffs for advertis-ing in the Clivia Society Newsletter:

Smalls (1 to 6 lines): R25.00Smalls (7 to 10 lines): R30.00Quarter page: R70.00Half page: R125.00Full Page: R250.00A5 separate page insert: R600.00A4 separate page insert: R800.00(You will be sent an account from thetreasurer for the appropriate amount.)

From the Clivia Society:

Back volume copies of the yearbooksand newsletters (since 1992) are nowavailable at reduced prices to overseasmembers. South African membersshould approach their local branches.We must point out that it is difficult toquote a fixed price without knowing themethod of payment and delivery. Wesuggest you contact Bossie de Kock(the treasurer) via e-mail at:

27

bossiedekock@freemail.absa.co.zaor by fax at +27 12 804 8892 and listthe items you are interested in as wellas the name of the country in whichyou reside. Bossie would then be in aposition to suggest the most econom-ical option. Australian, UK and USAmembers are reminded that they canorder via Ken Smith, Michael Jeansand Michael Morri respectively seecovers for contact detail. Also notethat further discounts can be negotiat-ed with Bossie for orders exceeding10 of a specific item. The followingitems are available:

Private advertisements:Clivia species, interspecifics and spe-cialities. Participate in our coordinatedimports and exports of seeds and plants -Asia, ANZ, N. Am. & Eu. Connie Abel,Pretoria, +27-12-3616406 orjcabel@absamail.co.zaYellow Nogqaza strains from R15 toR120. Orange from R1 to R6 for matureplants. Delivery anywhere. SOUTHAFRICAN CLIVIA PLANTATION, Box 855,Hilton 3245. Call 082- 955 5433.Clivia miniata. Seed R100 per kilogram.Year old plants R2 each. Roly Strachan,Box 57, Highflats 3306 or Tel. (039) 835

0085 evenings only.Clivia miniata F1 (yellow x orange),“pinks” and pastels, flowering size @ R12.Clivia miniata yellows, flowering size @R150. C. miniata ‘Stef’s Perfume’ @R18,00. Extra for postage and packaging.Dries Bester, PO Box 75, Levubu 0929.Tel/Fax (015) 583 0299.Swamp gardenii and miniata seed andseedlings available from various Nataland Transkei locations. Phone Andrew(039) 3135024 a/h or cell 0827845401.Clivia miniata: Creams, yellows,peaches, apricots, reds, pastels and poly-

chromes. Seed, seedlings, mature plantsand offsets of stock plants bred and select-ed over 25 years. Contact Bing Wiese,Pretoria tel/fax (012) 460 6382 to view.THURLOW FLORA We have on offer alarge variety of carefully bred seedlingsand mature plants for sale. We specializein pastel colours, oddities, species andoriginal wild collected and named clonesof clivia. Mail order and visitors welcome.For our latest plant list please contactSean and Terri Chubb. Tel: 031 7811978 e-mail: terric@iafrica.com We also haveavailable a few hundred different nameddaylily clones.

Item Approximate price (US $)Yearbook 5 15Yearbook 4 10Yearbook 3 Out of stockYearbook 2 6*Yearbook 1 6*Volumes 1(1992) to 11 (2002) of newsletters 10 per volume*Hints on growing Clivia – hard copy 5*Hints on growing Clivia – electronic PDF format 3*International membership list – hard copy 3*International membership list – electronic format No charge** Including postage and banking charges if paid by credit card. Contact Bossie de Kock for

quotation re payments made by cheque.

Beginner’s luckFlower structureI was recently asked a question: "Why dowe call clivia with extra petals 'multipetals'whereas daylilies with extra petals areclassified as 'double' and 'polytepal'?"For want of a better definition -- I onlylooked in Stearn's 'Botanical Latin' - It gavethe following answer:'Tepal' is a collective term for petals plussepals.'Polytepal' is more of a botanical term,while 'multipetal' is probably a layman'sneologism. I believe that they mean, inpractice, the same thing. In both cases,they seem to mean having more than theusual number of normal petals and sepals,while a double flower has petaloid sta-mens. I.e., 'polytepal' means having all theextra petals where the normal petals wouldbe, and any extra sepals where the normalsepals would be. 'Double' means havingextra petals where they would not occur ina normal flower, at least if it is used in con-

trast to 'polytepalous'. Otherwise, 'double'can be a general case of which 'poly-tepalous' is a specific instance. We needa good definition of 'multipetal' in cliviaclassifications. The pictures I've seen lookpolytepalous, not having just extra petals.'Polypetalous' means something a bit dif-ferent - it means having the petals uncon-nected at the base. Daylilies and allamaryllids have petals and sepals formedas extensions of a single structure, theperianth tube. They are not 'polypetalous'regardless of how many petals they have.This seems at the moment to be a reason-able explanation, but I think it is a matterthat ought to be addresses specifically inreference to Clivia. I have actually seen,once, a clivia plant in flower with all the flo-rets truly double - having petaloid sta-mens. It was stolen a year later from theowner's locked greenhouse.Jim Shields

The Editor has been reading a delightfulbook by Charles and Julia Botha called'Bring nature back to your garden'. EveGibbs has cleverly illustrated it with linedrawings. The book is full of useful infor-mation about how to create an ecological-ly friendly garden with indigenous plant-ings.As an Amaryllis caterpillar I was surprisedto see I also featured in it in the chapter

about 'Imported garden pests'. The firstline of this chapter reads: "These areREAL pests - know your enemy"!Evidently my ancestors were introducedfrom South America and therefore there isno natural enemy to the Amaryllis caterpil-lar here in South Africa. The authors sug-gest that only humans can keep us incheck and suggest many horrible ways ofgetting rid of us. One of them not alreadymentioned in previous correspondence(handpicking and insecticides) is to feedlarvae to the Tilapia in the garden pond!Ugh!! Please don't buy this book! Youmay get some terrible ideas from it.Lily Borer (Brithys pancratii from SouthAfrica and Brithys crini from Australia!).

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CONTACT DETAILS FOR CLIVIA CLUBS AND INTEREST GROUPS

Cape Clivia Club: Joy Woodward (Secretary). PO Box 53219, Kenilwor th, 7745.Tel (h) +27 21 671 7384, Tel (w) +27 21 799 8768, Fax +27 21 797 0002. E-mail: capeclivia@ibox.co.za or woodward@nbict.nbi.ac.za

Eastern Province Willie le Roux (Chairperson) PO Box 19292, Linton Grange, Por t Clivia Club: Elizabeth, 6015. Tel & Fax: +27 41-360 3480.

E-mail: girly@absamail.co.zaKwaZulu-Natal Clivia Club: Sean Chubb (Chairperson). Thurlow Farm, PO Box 126, Eston,

3740. Tel & Fax: +27 31 781 1978. E-mail: terric@iafrica.comNor thern Clivia Club: Lena van der Merwe (Secretary). PO Box 74868, Lynnwood Ridge,

0040. Tel & Fax: +27 12 804 8892. E-mail: nclivia@mweb.co.zaBorder Interest Group: Stella van Gass (Chairperson). 16 Greenan Street, Berea, East

London, 5241. Tel +27 43 721 2964Free State Clivia: Hennie van der Mescht, 18 Met tam Street, Fichardt Park,

Bloemfontein, 9322. Tel. +27 51 522 9530.Fax: +27 51 436 4340. E-mail: vandermescht@absamail.co.za

Garden Route Gerrie Bri ts (Chairperson). Tel: +27 44 8028420.Clivia Interest Group: Fax: +27 44 8707550.

Cell: 0827385842.E-mail Gerrie.Bri ts@za.sabmiller.com

Metro Group: Glynn Middlewick (Chairperson). 2 Willow Road, Nor thclif f, 2195. Tel +27 11 476 1463. E-mail: gcmidd@mweb.co.za

Nor thern KZN: Dries Olivier. PO Box 8783, Newcastle, 2940.Tel +27 83 264 6230. Fax: +27 34 318 6667.E-mail: dries@sawa.co.za

Southern Cape Ian Vermaak (Chairperson). PO Box 4802, George East, 6539. Interest Group: Tel & Fax +27 44 873 4122. E-mail: ver.fam@absamail.co.zaWaterberg Boslelieklub: An Jacobs. PO Box 3893, Nylstroom, 0510.

Tel & Fax: +27 14 717 2674. E-mail: johanan@pop.co.zaZoutpansberg: Anneke Stroebel (Secretary). PO Box 1712, Louis Trichardt, 0920.

Tel +27 83 326 6073. Fax +27 15 516 5710. E-mail: alstroebel@lantic.co.za

EDITOR OF NEWSLETTERMeg Har t. 70 The Valley Road, Park town, Johannesburg, 2193. Tel & Fax +27 11 646 9392, E-mail: har tmh@mweb.co.za

PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICERCobu Roos. Tel 072 2723 328, E-mail: cobus@telkomsa.net