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( Click on a photo to enlarge )

The C.M. Compacta Robusta developed by Bier & Ankersmit, a company which later split up to form two separate companies, G.J. Bier  & Sons and D.L. Ankersmit. On the right some pages from the catalogues for these two companies. This variety was to become the starting point for the 'Belgian Hybrid' (Gartenwelt, 1976, E. Hahn).  

 

  

                                                       

A lot of growers were improving Clivia's and won prizes on the 'Floralien' in Ghent from 1922 to 1950, including  the Campens Bros. in Melle and Louis De Caluwe in Merelbeke, along with many others in the Ghent region.

 

 

 

The Campens bros.  Greenhouse with large leaved Clivia's. And a photograph of a first priced plant on the Floralies of Ghent.

                                                         

 

The competition among the growers for prizes at the exhibitions stimulated their efforts to select the Clivia with the most beautiful flowers and the broadest leaves (8 to 12 cm).

 

After the Second World War there was a greater demand for less expensive plants. The 3 to 5 year cultivation cycle of the 'Belgian hybrid' was no longer profitable. In addition, Clivias in general had gone out of fashion. Many growers stopped producing Clivia at this time.

 

Beginning in the 1950s, Ernest De Coster in Melle started selecting for early flowering Clivias. These are compact plants, with 5 to 7 cm broad leaves, and 20% of the plants are already flowering after two years.

For years he exported many young Clivia plants to Italy . Growers in Italy call it the type " De Coster ". From that time most clivia growers are cultivating young flowering varietes.

 

                                                       

 In 1990 the Clivia Study Group was set up on the initiative of a horticultural engineer employed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Adrien Saverwyns. This group functions to bring Clivia

growers together to discuss the technical problems of cultivation and, in some instances, to propose testing by the Provincial Research Station.

 

In 1998 most Clivia growers are cultivating the commercial early flowering varieties.The famous 'Belgian hybrid' well known by Clivia-enthusiasts all over the world is becoming very popular.

                                                       

 

Here a comparison of the Belgian Hybrid (left) and the commercial young flowering type (right). The large Belgian hybrid  with  leaves more than 10cm broad. On the right the little plant is about  20 months old and the plants behind this one are a year older. 

 

 

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