The Vico Pink Story: A Breeding Journey
Our journey with Vico Pink began with two remarkable plants: Vico Yellow and Vico Peach, acquired from Charl Malan, who sourced them directly from Mr. Yoshi Nakamura during his visit to Japan in 1997. These foundational plants would become the cornerstone of our unique Vico Pink line.
In 2004, we launched a focused breeding program, crossing our Vico Yellows with the finest Vico Peaches. By 2010, many seedlings had flowered, revealing a stunning range of soft hues—delicate pinks, rich peaches, and occasional yellows. From this diverse pool, we carefully selected only the finest pinky-peach flowers to carry forward the line.
Standout selections from this early generation included:
Vico Pink Clouds
Vico Pink Explosion
Vico Pink Parfait
Vico Pink Vogue
Vico Peach Kyla
These siblings were intercrossed to refine the pink coloration and improve flower form and umbel structure. Most displayed large, elegant flowers—often gracefully recurved—with beautifully arranged umbels. While some yellow offspring still appeared in the first generation (about 25%), the second generation, flowering in 2015–2016, showed a remarkable genetic shift: the pink color had stabilized. Even when large yellow plants were used as pod or pollen parents to enhance flower traits, the progeny bloomed only in shades of pink and peach.
Exceptional second-generation seedlings include:
Vico Baby Pink – from Vico Pink Vogue × Vico Pink Parfait
Vico Pink Butterfly
Vico Pink Giant
Vico Pink Sky
These plants continue to be key selections for breeding due to their outstanding color, flower form, and overall plant quality.
Beyond our miniata breeding, we’ve also incorporated Vico Pinks into interspecific programs, aiming to develop large, pendulous pink and peach-flowered interspecifics. A notable early success is a plant bred by Charl Malan, using Vico Peach on a yellow interspecific—showing exciting potential for future lines.
Our latest interspecific crosses have also flowered, produced by pollinating a yellow Caulescens with Vico Pink Romance. These new plants display a stunning range of peach-pink bells, with some flowers more open and larger than others—a very successful pollination demonstrating the potential of combining Caulescens size and elegance with the Vico Pink palette.
Over the years, we’ve shared seeds from our Vico Pink and Peach lines with enthusiasts worldwide. It is our hope that these plants flower as beautifully for others as they have for us—and continue to expand the palette of pink in Clivia breeding.
