Peter Hey, of Just Cliveas and Rare Things, is a clivia breeder and grower of rare plants.
We caught up with Peter Hey to see what he's bringing... and has usual it's a delicious smorgasbord of Clivea, caudex, interesting Australian edibles, Hyacinthoides Sub-Family, Aloe plicatus and specimen cacti.
Peter is bringing:
*Clivia's – all colours – bronze, green, red, pink, yellow, bi-colour, cream, peach. Seedlings to specimens. Breeder’s Selection. European Peach Tones Collection.
*Rare edible Australian Natives – Myrnong, Native Oregano, Native Thyme, Rosella, Lemon myrtle, Samphire, Calandrinia
*Caudex plants suh as Diascoria, Stephania, Fockea, Sinningia, Xerosicyos (small to specimen size)
*Hyacinthoides Sub-Family. Veltheimia, Massonias, Lachenalias, Daubenya. Small 50mnm to specimens in 400mm planters. Huge range of colours and perfumes. All hardy, all Winter flowering. All colours of Veltheimia.
*Variegated Monstera deliciosa (specimen size), variegated Veltheimias, Variegated Aloe vera.
*Specimen cacti – including Trichocereus pachenoi
*Aloe plicatilis – Fan Aloe (specimens) When did you start breeding plants? It really began in 1986 when my wife Margaret and I purchased a property on the mid-north coast of NSW with the view of developing a tea tree oil enterprise. Much of the work extracting oil from Melaleuca alternifolia was based on selecting and hybridising better and better bushes to improve the yield and quality of the oil. That’s where the fire for breeding was established. I’m mad about these new clivia colours you are now producing – lime-green, bronze, peach, scarlet, and apricot! I’m part of a group of like-minded Australian growers who’ve made a very long-term commitment to developing something very, very special for our unique climatic conditions. Those colours you mentioned are now becoming available, but just wait for the next tranche of multi-petal and bi-tonal clivia that will be available around 2020-2025. Now, they will absolutely stun you! One just has to be patient. Much of this material has been in development for nearly 20 years! Will you have some of these for us at Collectors‘ Plant Fair this year? Yes, I will have a good selection of young adult clivias including the colours you mentioned. I will also have a small number of the pink bi-tonal/bicolour, as well as a number of multipetal Group 2 yellow/green. I’m hoping you’ll also have some of your amazing array of Massonias. These are fascinating bulbous perennials from southern Africa. They send out two extraordinary ground-hugging leaves in autumn in a range of textures and colours, then flower in various colours and perfumes in winter, and go dormant for the summer holidays. Great entertainment! I’ll have Massonia mimetica and Massonia longipes, without question. What about Veltheimias, they are such a glorious flower for shaded areas? The Veltheimia bracteata ‘Lemon Flame’ X Peach hybrids are growing nicely. They will be ready for the fair. As will be a selection of a new variegated lemon form. There should be a small number of bi-colour and possibly some of the white form as well. I got the tucker into them as soon as they emerged in February so fingers crossed!
Interview: Linda Ross
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