Bush lily (Clivia miniata) care

Flowering · straightforward to keep

Bush lily (Clivia miniata) wants bright indirect light; shade in summer. Water it every 10 days. Water when the top half is dry in the growing season. From late autumn, keep it almost completely dry and cool for eight to ten weeks — that rest is what makes it flower. Pot it in loam-based, free-draining compost. A balanced feed monthly from spring to late summer; none in winter, and repot every 2 years. Humidity: room humidity is fine. Toxic to cats and dogs; causes vomiting, and the bulb in quantity affects the heart.

Bush lily: strap leaves in a flat fan and, after a cold dry winter rest, a head of orange trumpet flowers on a thick stalk. It is long-lived — plants outlive their owners — flowers best jammed in a pot it has outgrown, and is one of the few flowering plants that does well away from direct sun.

Quick facts

Water: Water every 10 days. Water when the top half is dry in the growing season. From late autumn, keep it almost completely dry and cool for eight to ten weeks — that rest is what makes it flower.
Light: Bright indirect light; shade in summer.
Humidity: Room humidity is fine.
Soil: Loam-based, free-draining compost.
Feeding: A balanced feed monthly from spring to late summer; none in winter.
Repotting: Repot every 2 years.
Toxic to pets: Toxic to cats and dogs; causes vomiting, and the bulb in quantity affects the heart.
Difficulty: Straightforward.
Mature size: 50–70 cm tall.
Native to: South Africa.

Watering a Bush lily

Water every 10 days. Water when the top half is dry in the growing season. From late autumn, keep it almost completely dry and cool for eight to ten weeks — that rest is what makes it flower.

That cadence is the one PlantParlour sets for this species when you name it, and it is deliberately on the cautious side — a plant that asks a day early is safer than one that asks a day late. Log each watering and the reminder moves with the plant rather than with the calendar.

Light

Bright indirect light, and no direct sun. Clivias flower reliably in a spot most flowering plants would sulk in.

Humidity and temperature

Room humidity is fine. Central heating in winter is what turns a comfortable room into a dry one, and it is the usual reason an established plant suddenly browns at the edges or picks up spider mites.

Soil and potting

A loam-based compost with grit. Clivia roots are thick and fleshy and rot in anything that stays wet.

Feeding

A balanced feed monthly from spring to late summer; none in winter. Stop feeding in autumn and start again when you see new growth in spring — feeding a plant that isn't growing just builds up salts in the pot.

Repotting

Repot every 2 years. Only every three or four years — clivias flower best when tightly potbound, to the point of cracking the pot.

Common problems

Never flowers
No winter rest.

Fix: Keep it cool (around 10 °C) and nearly dry from November to January, then resume watering and it will send a stalk up.
Flower stalk stays short, flowers open inside the leaves
Too warm during the rest, or watered too early.

Fix: Keep the rest cooler and wait until the stalk is clear of the leaves before watering.
Pale scorched patches
Direct sun.

Fix: Move it into bright shade.

Propagation

Divide the clump after flowering, giving each piece its own thick roots. Offsets take three or four years to flower.

A cutting taken in PlantParlour keeps its link to the plant it came from, so a propagation years later still traces back to the mother plant — which is the point if you ever sell or trade it.

Toxicity and safety

Toxic to cats and dogs; causes vomiting, and the bulb in quantity affects the heart.

Questions people ask

How often should you water a Bush lily?

Water every 10 days as a starting point — that is the cadence PlantParlour sets for Clivia miniata. Water when the top half is dry in the growing season. From late autumn, keep it almost completely dry and cool for eight to ten weeks — that rest is what makes it flower. Light, pot size and the time of year all move that number, so treat it as a reminder to go and check rather than a rule.

How much light does a Bush lily need?