CLIVIA BREEDING AT LONGWOOD GARDENS©

A. Petravich
Longwood Gardens, in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, has recently released three cultivars of Clivia miniata from their breeding program which began in 1976. At the beginning of the program, most existing C. miniata were orange flowered cultivars, and yellow flowers were rare and very desirable. The original goal of the breeding program was to produce a superior yellow flowered Clivia. Thirty-four years after the program began, in 2010, C. miniata ‘Longwood Debutante’ was released at the North American Clivia Society Show at Longwood Gardens. “Debutante” is a fitting name as this plant was the first release from Longwood’s breeding program to enter into Clivia Society. It was revealed in the grandeur of the Longwood Ballroom. Clivia miniata ‘Longwood Debutante’ produces slightly fragrant, buttery yellow flowers, with overlapping tepals, in an umbel set on a sturdy scape, that rises nicely above the dark green foliage. The goal of the breeding program was realized with ‘Longwood Debutante’. Superiority of the plant was validated when single blooming fans of Clivia ‘Longwood Debutante’ sold for $900.
Petravich, A. (2015). CLIVIA BREEDING AT LONGWOOD GARDENS©. Acta Hortic. 1085, 207-209
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2015.1085.35
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2015.1085.35
English

Acta Horticulturae