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Key points
- Summer: shade, airflow and careful morning watering, plus regular checks for lily caterpillars.
- Autumn: repot and divide early, then ease back on water as the nights cool.
- Winter: keep plants on the dry side, protected from frost, and give a mid-winter feed.
- Spring: peak flowering, then tidy up, feed and repot after the flowers finish.
- Warm coastal gardens get little frost but more humidity, rot and caterpillar pressure.
How to use this calendar
In Australia, summer runs from December to February, autumn from March to May, winter from June to August and spring from September to November. This calendar suits cool-winter, frost-prone gardens such as Toowoomba, the Darling Downs, the Granite Belt and the NSW Southern Tablelands, where clivias rest through a cold winter and flower in spring.
Treat the months as a guide, not a rulebook. Frosts, rain and heatwaves vary from year to year, so shift jobs by a few weeks to suit your garden. If you garden on the coast, read the coastal notes further down.
What to do this month
Pick a month. Tasks are for a cool-winter, frost-prone garden like ours near Toowoomba.
Summer: December to February
Clivias are in active growth, putting on new leaves and roots. The focus is shade, airflow and careful watering.
- Water mature plants deeply when the mix is dry a few centimetres down, in the morning only.
- Check your shade. Hot afternoon sun bleaches and scorches leaves quickly.
- Inspect leaf bases weekly for mealybug and lily caterpillars, which thrive in hot, humid weather.
- Keep pots raised and clear away fallen leaves and debris.
At Valewood we don’t water when it’s over 30°C, we never water in the evening, and we skip watering if rain is forecast. Warm, wet conditions are when bacterial rot strikes.
Our winters
Our property north of Toowoomba has a climate similar to Stanthorpe, with winter lows as cold as -7.5°C. Plants in our shadehouse go under frost cloth on extreme nights. In very cold areas with heavy frost, frost cloth is essential.
Autumn: March to May
Early autumn, once the worst of the heat has passed, is a good window to repot and divide, giving roots time to settle before winter. Lily caterpillars are still active, so keep checking.
- Divide crowded clumps and repot root-bound plants in March or April. See potting, repotting and dividing.
- Top up slow-release fertiliser while plants are still growing.
- Ease back on water as the nights cool and growth slows.
- Get frost cloth ready and move pots to sheltered spots before the first frosts, which can arrive in late autumn.
- Leave seed berries from last spring’s flowers on the plant until they are fully coloured and ripe.
Winter: June to August
Clivias go into a winter rest. Growth slows and they need far less water. This cool period also helps set up spring flowers, so don’t bring garden plants into a heated house.
- Water sparingly, only on mild mornings, and only when the mix is dry well below the surface.
- Cover plants with frost cloth on frosty nights, or keep them under trees, eaves or a shade structure.
- At Valewood we give a mid-winter feed of slow-release fertiliser to support flower development.
- Harvest ripe berries and sow the fresh seed somewhere warm. See seed raising.
- From late winter, look for flower buds in the leaf bases, and patrol for snails and slugs, which love buds.
Once a bud appears, increase water a little on mild mornings so the flower stem can lengthen.
Hot and wet is the danger zone
Watering in the heat or in the evening leaves plants warm and wet, which is when bacterial soft rot takes hold. At Valewood we don’t water above 30°C, never water in the evening, and skip watering when rain is on the way.
Spring: September to November
This is flowering season, and in cool inland areas September is usually the peak. After flowering, growth picks up again.
- Enjoy the flowers, and hand-pollinate if you’d like to try breeding. See colours and breeding.
- Cut spent flower stems off at the base unless you want seed. Berries take about 9 to 12 months to ripen and draw on the plant’s energy.
- Late frosts are possible in early spring, so keep frost cloth handy.
- Feed with slow-release fertiliser with trace elements as new growth starts.
- Repot or divide after flowering, and water more regularly as the weather warms.
- Check shade before summer: a spot that was shady in winter can get direct sun once the sun climbs higher.
Set a few reminders
Put the mid-winter feed, frost cloth checks and a weekly summer caterpillar check in your phone calendar. Small, regular checks prevent most problems.
Warmer coastal Queensland and northern NSW
From Brisbane and the Sunshine and Gold Coasts down to the NSW North Coast, frost is rare or light, so winter protection is mostly about cold winds. Clivias grow well there, but the year looks a little different:
- Humidity and rot: long, warm, wet summers raise the risk of rot. Use a very open mix, water less often than you think and maximise airflow.
- Caterpillars: lily caterpillars are most active in hot, humid weather, and the warm season is longer, so check plants from spring right through autumn.
- Flowering: clivias flower best after a cool winter rest, so milder winters can mean more scattered or less reliable flowering. Give them the coolest shady spot you have.
- Shade: strong subtropical sun makes good shade even more important.
Habits for every season
A few habits matter all year: keep pots raised off the ground, keep air moving around plants, water in the morning at the base of the plant, remove old, yellowing leaves that can shelter pests, and look into the leaf bases whenever you walk past. At Valewood we treat good airflow as essential, because poor airflow leads to mealybug and leaf spot problems. For pest and disease help, see pests and problems.
Common questions
When is the best time to repot or divide clivias?
After flowering in spring, or in early autumn once the summer heat eases. Avoid winter, when plants are resting, and hot spells. Sources differ on the ideal month, so pick a mild period that suits your climate.
Should I cut off the flower stem after flowering?
If you don’t want seed, yes. Cut the spent stem off at the base. Berries take around 9 to 12 months to ripen and use the plant’s energy. If you do want seed, leave the stem on until the berries are ripe.
Do clivias need water in winter?
A little. They’re dormant, so water sparingly, on a mild morning, when the mix is dry well below the surface. In cool, frosty areas that might be only once or twice a month. Don’t let potted plants stay bone dry for months.
Sources and further reading (16)
- Melbourne Clivia Group: Cultivation of Clivias, Clivia Pests and Diseases (cultivation notes PDF)
- Royal Horticultural Society: How to grow clivias
- University of Wisconsin Extension: Clivia
- Pacific Horticulture: Cultivating Clivia
- SANBI PlantZAfrica: Clivia miniata
- Garden Clinic: How to cultivate clivias
- Garden Clinic: Dividing clivias
- Garden Clinic: Clivia
- Flower Power: Clivia fact sheet
- Burke's Backyard: Caterpillar on Clivias
- Pacific Bulb Society wiki: Spodoptera picta
- Botany Brisbane: Clivia
- Toowoomba Clivia Society: Clivia Show
- Melbourne Clivia Group: Propagating Clivia seeds in Australia
- White Flower Farm: Growing Clivia miniata
- Pacific Bulb Society mailing list: Clivia short flower stems discussion (March 2025)
Grow guide
Keep learning
Start here: light, water, potting mix and when they flower.
The usual reasons, with a quick flowering check.
Group 1 and 2 yellows, cross names and hand pollinating.
Pots, mixes, dividing offsets and bare-root arrivals.
From ripe berry to first leaf, the Valewood way.
Mealybug, lily caterpillar, rots and leaf marks.
Quick answers to the questions we hear most.
Umbels, tepals, splits and selfs explained.
Release alerts
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