A friend who will be moving is clearing out the 20 ft by 20 ft sun room.

collected his orange clivia late last week because yesterday was my

club's divide and multiply workshop, geared towards garden perennials

will be sold at the early July arts festival. The clivia would be a high
class addition to our usual offerings.

I have never divided a clivia. First effort was getting the dang thing

of its pot. I seriously thought I'd have to take a hatchet to the pot but
eventually out it came. If there wasn't any soil left in the root mass it
wouldn't surprise me. After fruitless twiddling and plucking at the tight
root mass (reminded me of when one of the cats takes a skein of yarn and
runs through the house, under chairs, up and down stairs, then saunters

leaving me with the tangle) I dumped it in a bucket of water to soak for

while.

The roots loosened but not sufficiently to do much good. Casting a prayer
to the gods of chlorophyll I went at it with a serrated knife. Ended up
with three very nice divisions, all with goodly amount of roots. Two good
divisions with minimal amount of roots. And one division with lots of

and a growing point but no leaves.

Took everything home and let them sit in the garage overnight, then

them up this morning in a very gritty mix. Did not water.

Delivered one of the best divisions back to the original owner. Will keep
one for myself. Will tend the others until early July and the plant sale.
Fingers crossed for their survival and recovery.

This is no doubt the wrong time of year to do this sort of plant butchery
but it was when the occasion presented itself.

Be gentle while scolding me, but any suggestions / advice on followup

would be welcome.

Judy in New Jersey, where it is raining
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