as far as i can gather it depends on whether you are growing the evergreen light pink C.vansonii from the forests of eastern zimbabwe(very wet) or deciduous red/purple C.haemanthoides from the tanzanian steppe. in the wild vanzonii prefers loamy composted soils with a lot of organic matter(and rainfall in excess of 1000mm) while the latter prefers decoposed granite soils(and much drier rainfall 500mm) so first you have to establish what kind you are getting. just make sure in both cases that they don't get cold!

oops! sorry just saw it's vansonii you are referring to. the climatic requirements would be very similiar to clivia's, except they don't like as deep shade as clivias. the north eastern cloud forests of south africa and zimbabwe are very similiar. just s'african plants tend to be a tad bit more cold resilient. just don't let these babies get cold! hope that helps.

Thanks for the info. The people in South Africa indicate that it should be in a very free-draining mix and that in the summer only water once every 2 weeks and in the winter only once per month. I suppose I do not water my Clivia a lot more than that, but they are also in a mix that holds more water. I'm looking forward to getting these in the spring and giving them a try. I only found one place in the U.S. that is sold out and they wanted $125 for one plant....ouch!!! Thanks :o) Dan

Dan,
Jim Shields from www.shieldsgardens.com advertised plants for sale a few weeks ago on another site (it may save a lot on shiping cost compared from RSA). If you do not find joy from him, there are many plants available from South Africa. Just let us know?

Hi dries, I know Jim's site....tends to be high to be completely honest. I import wholesale hundreds of bulbs at a time (thousands at a time from other countries with stuff that is more popular) so my costs get reduced substantially. Last year I imported 500 bulbs for $600 so it only added roughly $1 per bulb.....not a bad deal. I've been offering to import these and another hundred species of bulbs for others here in the U.S. at cost just to share the fun....oddly, people are not that keen for many of the South African bulbs....go figure!! Last year I imported mostly Haemanthus, Scadoxus, Boophane, Brunsvigia and Nerine, but this year I am expanding to quite a few other genera....should be fun :o) Dan

Dan,
I placed an inquiry on the yahoo Clivia group so let's see what pops out?

Hi Dries,
Thanks, should be interesting to see what others have to say :o) Dan

Dan,
So far I have been offered a few plants here and there but nowhere larger quantities worth your while.
I had a guy, however, offering me 20 000 Strelitzia Mandela Gold (the scarser yellow variety) seedlings!!
As for growing the C V it seems very similar to Clivia.
You can mail me privately via my website below.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Website

does it pup as easily as clivia?

Dries,

Wow, 20,000 seedlings! There is a guy here who wholesales the Mandela's gold for $75-100 for an unbloomed near mature seedling. The bloomed ones are at least twice that amount. Compare that to all the oranges all over Southern California in huge clumps. I still don't think I've ever seen a yellow one outside of the wholesale nursery.

Kind Regards,
Craig

Hello Graig i am a big Clivia fan, and since a while i am looking for the most related Cryptostephanus. But they are not available here in Germany.

Because of this fact i was looking in the internet and found your article here.

My questions are: How many different kinds of Cr. do you have and is it possible to get some from you to Germany?

Kind regards, Nico