Dedicated to the growers and their plants who have inspired me through the years.
My inspiration for my clivia breeding, has always come from many different sources. Inspiration can come to me in many ways, through wise words, a beautiful photograph in a yearbook, a show winner on a display table, a visit to a collection of unforgettable plants, or a breeder who has reached goals we are still dreaming about.
Visiting a grower who is passionate about their collection and who is willing to share their knowledge and assist with seeds and seedlings, has always been one of my greatest inspirations since I started breeding clivia more than 20 years ago.
These breeders have done incredible work for their time and their plants continue to impact modern breeding. I was honored to know these breeders and hope to one day pass my knowledge to another aspiring clivia breeders as well. Thank you all for the inspiration.
I would love to share some of my early memories of a few of these visits to late breeders and their collections.
Pat Gore`s Clivia Heaven: (visit in 2006)
The Late Pat Gore, otherwise known as Oom Pat was a grower who has truly inspired me after my visit to him in 2006. I was fortunate to be able to attend the 2006 International Show in Pretoria and spending the weekend with Oom Pat was like being in “clivia heaven”
His green house was filled to the brim and flowering plants were everywhere to be seen. I helped him clean and prepare plants for the show and he shared many little tricks in preparing plants for display and show purposes.
Some of his most famous plants are Olympia Pink, Diana Peach, and Fighting Port, a very dark red. When asked about the name I was told that the plant caused such a stir amongst club members fighting for offsets of this red, he named it Fighting Port. That story will stay with me for a long time.
It is a well known fact that Oom Pat has never missed an AGM except for one in 2012, where he was too ill to attend. I think this is an achievement on its own.
I left Pretoria with lots of gifts, including a bag full of seeds, some very special offsets and of course, memories of some of the most beautiful flowers I have seen.
Rudo Lotter and his amazing plants: (visit in 2010)
In 2010 some friends and I had the honour of visiting the late Rudo Lotterr on his smallholding just outside Pretoria. I have seen many collections and visited many growers before, but these were simply the most amazing colours I have seen in one collection. Rudo`s plants were not housed in fancy shade houses or planted in fancy pots. Some of the plants suffered from bad frost damage, but the variety of special flowers I saw that day, took my breath away.
Rudo took over from his father Wessel Lotter, who had been breeding since the late 70`s. They specialized in interspecifics, but Rudo has since then also bred some beautiful miniatas in an array of colours.
Rudo has one of the most sought after collections in the world. He has also line bred a new line of apricots called Meyer`s Apricot, bred from Meyer`s Peach x Group2 yellows. He has bred some beautiful versi colours from Naude`s Peach. Rudo is also very famous for his beautiful pink flowers
he has bred from Appleblossom crosses. Rudo`s Best Pink is most probably one of the best pinks in his collection.
Rudo`s breeding has always been an inspiration to me and my breeding goals.
The Guillaume family:
The late Oom Bertie and I met telephonically many years ago when we both were growing Inca lilies on a large scale. As I started my clivia collection in 1998, he assisted me with my choice of first plants. It was extremely exciting! We often spoke over the phone about breeding. He was always willing to part with his advice and assist wherever possible.
Unfortunately, I never had the privilege of meeting Oom Bertie (as he was fondly known) in person, before he tragically passed away in 2009. This was a shock to the Clivia community and condolences poured in from all over the world. His memory lives on in many Clivia collections throughout the world.
In 2010, I had the honour of meeting the late Tannie Erda, Oom Bertie’s wife, and their daughter Celia, when I visited their farm with some other Clivia friends. Their hospitality to visitors is well known throughout the Clivia community and they always made an extra effort to make you feel at home.
Never have I ever seen so many clivias in flower; planted en masse under the trees and in multiple shade houses on the farm. We were treated like royalty and after selecting plants out of the hundreds in flower, we were treated to a visit to the late Oom Bertie`s shade house. This was truly a house of hidden treasures with many famous plants in flower like Bella Donna, Bertie`s Bronze, and Apple Blossom.
Since my visit, dear Tannie Erda also sadly passed away and the collection is now closely guarded by Celia and her brother.
Together this family shared a passion for Clivia breeding that resulted in some of the most sought after Clivias today. Their love and passion for Clivia will always be an inspiration to me and my future breeding programme.
Carrie Kruger
Utopia Clivias
Sedgefield, South Africa
