Yellow clivia in the East Conservatory. These plants were pollinated to produce beautiful yellow berries. The berries yielded seeds for the participating students.
This year, Longwood kicked off a program to engage a new generation of clivia enthusiasts! As part of our “Clivia in the Classroom” program, we gave blooming-sized clivia plants and seeds to eight biology and horticulture teachers in area schools. During this school year, the teachers are using the plant materials as a class project where students can get hands-on experience growing and caring for clivias.
The students are being taught how to provide the proper cultural conditions to force their plants into bloom—just in time for the for the North American Clivia Society show, March 17 and 18, 2012, at Longwood Gardens.
The show will feature a special judging division for the students to enter their plants. We can’t wait to see how the students fare with their plants this March!
Each teacher was allowed to select their own plant to enter into the show.
In addition to taking care of the plants in the classroom, students from the participating classes received clivia seeds to take home and nurture year-round. All of the plants being used in the program are yellow-flowered and resulted from Longwood’s 36-year-old clivia breeding program.
