Secret Series
Carrie Krüger Utopia Clivias
Pink clivias are still rare and hard to come by. With the large genepool in interspecific breeding, pink flowers are now also seen in the interspecific range of clivias.
My first pink pastel types emerged from ten plants I received as a gift from a friend in 2007, as two-year old seedlings. These were all grown from seed of the same cross namely, (Coromandel Orange x Group 1 Yellow) x 5 Star (Gardenii x group 1 yellow). These F1 plants are all split for Group 1 Yellow and therefore, when sibling crosses are made, a percentage of them have green stems.
The first of these ten plants flowered in 2009 and to my surprise, it was a beautiful creamy pastel which developed pink tinges as it matured. The flowers were large and semi-open on a small to medium sized plant. It flowered during the interspecific time and I decided to take it to the Eastern Province Interspecific Show where it was voted best on show. I named this one “Secret Desire” as it was desired by so many at that show.
During 2011 two more opened. I participated in both the Eastern Province and Garden Route Clivia Shows, where both these plants were selected as winners. At the Eastern Province show in July, “Secret Wish” was voted best on show. It is salmon pink with semi-open flowers on a sturdy medium sized plant. In August the third plant started opening and I named her “Secret Hope”. Although all the flowers were not open yet, it was voted second best on show. It is a beautiful pink with large semi-open flowers on a medium sized plant.
Since then, others have all flowered, mostly as beautiful pink pastels. Two of the ten plants flowered as yellow interspecifics. They do not all flower during show times, but I have named and numbered them for breeding purposes. I did sibling crosses with them and the first f1 flowered in 2015. It was a beautiful large pink semi-pendulous flower named “Secret Child”. Although the flower count was low, as the plant was only three years old at that stage, I have good expectations for the crosses.
The other plants in this range are as follows:
“Secret Love” has lovely salmon pink flowers on a semi broad leaf, compact plant. “Secret Rose” opens in a lovely round cream flower that matures into an apricot pastel. “Secret Dream” is almost a pink versi colour with cream on the inside and pink on the outside of the petals. As the flowers mature, they change to pink. “Secret Strawberry Parfait” has the pinkest flowers and is the only one that offsets well. “Secret Baby Doll” is a more pendulous flower in soft shades of cream, pink and pastel.
What makes these plants stand out from the rest, is the size of the plants. Most of them are much smaller and more compact than the average interspecific with shorter leaves. They are neat, tidy plants and it seems that the umbels keep on improving every year. They have viable pollen and set seeds well.
I am extremely excited to see the results of all these sibling crosses,where I used the pollen on pink miniatas and other interspecifics. It was surely one of my best gifts ever.
