Hope for Our ‘New Hope’ Clivia

A sign of life in the New Hope clivia miniata that I had given up for dead.

The ‘New Hope’ clivia that froze solid in the garage earlier this winter has risen like Lazarus from the dead. This weekend, I spotted new growth! It’ll take some time for it to regain any form, but this is a horticultural miracle and I’m going to run with it.

I had placed it in the garage to force it into dormancy, when a deep freeze rolled in, and I forgot to bring it inside. 

My first thought was to compost it and call it a loss. But instead, I brought it in the house, pruned off all the dead foliage, gave it a deep watering, and placed it under the grow lights. 

The odds were overwhelmingly against it recovering, but the South African New Hope clivia is a rare and beautiful plant, so it was worth a try.

Yesterday, I decided it was time to give up, so I brought it in the kitchen to remove it from its pot and toss it. But when I removed it from its pot, I saw that the root system was healthy, so I cut away all the dead, dried leaf matter from the base, and behold – new growth! I gave it a good feeding and another deep watering, and it’s back under the grow lights.

It makes me sad to eat plants when I see how they strive to live. There’s no doubt that they want to survive, just like us. Vegan haters often joke that vegans are no more merciful than carnivores – after all, we kill plants to eat them. Vegans scoff at this criticism, but sometimes I wonder. Just sayin’.

My husband brought home another beautiful phalaenopsis. This is a pretty white with dark pink markings. It and the one he brought home two weeks ago are healthy and in full bloom. It’s wonderful to have blooming tropical plants in the house in the middle of winter.

In the hope that this incredibly mild winter keeps up, yesterday I started a large flat of Italian parsley seeds. If things go right, I can place it outside in April as a big bowl of fresh parsley seedlings. What a way to get spring started.

Live in peace.