Hardytropicalguy's pics made many of us envious!

You might want to try eBay. There you will find Asian suppliers as well as seeds/plants that are offspring from the same.

What seedlings have you grown from the NACS seeds? Do you find any of them particularly special?

I do not know how special the plants are, since I will have to wait three years to see what kind of flowers they produce. However, the list of seeds that they have changes over time, and depending on what is being offered, you can get specific crosses from good stock, rather than simply open-pollinated plants. I am hopeful that I am getting some pretty good plants in the long run.

I have purchased seeds from Chinaclivia and Lilywangxuan on eBay. I particularly like Lily and Wu Jin of Lilywangxuan. Seeds will generally be harvested in December and January, so all you can do now is pre-order seeds. Any seeds sold as of the present are mostly either imported from the southern hemisphere, or old seed which will generally have greatly reduced germination.

As to variegated seeds, the seeds from a variegated plant can give plants ranging from totally green to totally albino (these will die), but a good percentage will have at least some variegation.

Link below is to the Clivia Forum based in South Africa. All the info you can use.

George

Here is a link that might be useful: Clivia forum

Thank you for both of your very helpful advice. I greatly appreciate it. I would like to end up with a variegated plant something like what one sees in the pictures on EBAY, so will plan to order quite a few seeds to increase my chances in the genetic raffle.

Thanks to those who made the kind comments ;0)

As far as my 2 cents is concerned. Seeds from variegated plants yield a certain percentage of albino ( all white) offspring that will die.

Also a certain percentage of all green.

The remainder will have some degree of variegation.

It is fun to start some plants from seed but if you take into consideration the low cost of plants such as on e-bay it is wise to buy a few nice variegated plants to begin with. To "tide-you-over" while the seedlings mature.

I have had unfortunately considerably bad luck with most of the Chinese seeds I have imported. Out of 100s ( I am sure at least 200 possibly 2x that)of Chinese seeds all types I have maybe a dozen plants (at best) I have started from seed total.---Good germination poor survival rate-- If I had started out investing the 100s of dollars I spent on seeds into a few plants I would have certainly have gotten more enjoyment than the expensive but worthwhile learning experience

There are enthusiasts that have had exceptional luck with them but some of their requirements are not met in my environment.

I have had tremendous success with seeds of plants imported from South Africa (the varieties grown for their flowers)nearly --100% germination and survival rate--. Should the seeds grow and survive for you can expect a small plant with 5- 6 leaves at best so they still have a long way to go before becoming a nice display specimen.

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Not to discourage you but you can take my experience into consideration while making your decisions!

I feel your pain Hardytropical!!! And very nice and healthy seedlings you got there!

I went "variegated seeds" crazy to early this year and bought A LOT from China of Ebay. The $1/seed looked so cheap and very tempting. And just like your experience, A LOT of them had very poor germination and NOT "good quality" or "beautiful" as stated in their listing AT ALL!!! With most of them germinating green leafed, albino, or with just a very faint variegation.

On the other hand, I received some clivia seeds from a friend in South Africa with 6 variegated seeds. All of them germinated with very good variegation and are growing strong. Same thing with the clivia seeds I imported from Japan which had very good germination and strong seedlings.

This very big loss($$$), waste of time/effort and disappointment has made me decide to make my own variegated seeds. At least I know what I am planting and the exact variegated clivia plant and berries that the seeds came from.

LOLOL...And the worst part about this Ebay thing is, by the time your seeds germinate, your 45 days to complain on Ebay or Paypal is wayyyyyyy gone. Same thing with those pre-selling of seeds...several months before you receive the item. I mean, what's the "Buyer Protection" for if this is further allowed?

LESSON LEARNED: Only purchase your seeds from clivia growers who have produced the seeds themselves or acquired/imported them from reliable clivia growers too. It is better to purchase a variegated clivia plant where you can see the variegation already than seeds if your only want a few to add to your collection.

Believe me...this is a lesson very well learned!!!

Happy clivia gardening to all!

Thanks for the info on the recent posts. I was just considering purchasing Chinese seed in order to receive the shipment before the snow starts flying here.

HTGuy - You are so right in saying that the reasonable prices on eBay for plants/seedlings may be the better way to go, for some varieties at least. Growing from seed can be a lot of fun, but not when you invest a fair amount of money just to see them die.

Mariava - I, too, thought that eBay's complaint policy should be reconsidered for some things especially plants/seeds.

Frets - If you lurk around the forum that "Geoforce" recommended you just may find offers for free seed. A great group of people there!