When this clivia flower cluster opened a couple weeks ago, it was like a sucker punch to winter. The orange-tipped buds emerged from deep within the emerald-green leaves, pointing upward like little round-nosed rockets, then opened as a chorus to expose their soft yellow throats and delicate pistils.  Each flower stretched its petals wider until they formed one glorious globe of sherbet orange and yellow against thick strappy foliage. The show has gone on now for several weeks, delighting me no end.

My friend gave me the plant as a division several years ago, and it’s become one of my favorite houseplants, doubtless for those winter-blah-chasing flowers, but also because of its undemanding demeanor and dramatic fountain of dark foliage.

These South African natives need light to grow well, but do not tolerate direct sunlight. They actively grow in the spring and summer months, then enter a resting phase for about three months in late fall, then bloom in winter. Here’s how to give your clivia the conditions it needs to thrive and bloom.

Place the plant in a bright north-facing window, or an eastern or western window, provided the light is filtered by trees or curtains. Clivias do well summered outdoors in a shady but bright location. I move mine to the front porch after the weather has warmed and settled, and it stays there until fall night temperatures dip into the 40s.

Clivias don’t need much water. In the spring and summer, when they are growing, water only when the soil dries out, and fertilize regularly. In the fall, when they enter their resting phase, stop watering. Continue withholding water through winter, unless the plant wilts, in which case you can give it a small amount.

Clivias like to be crowded in the pot, and it can take a couple years for a plant to mature enough to flower. Then, to set flower buds, they need a chilling period of about 50 degrees for three months during the resting phase, which begins in late fall. At that point (and before a frost) I move my clivia to a north-facing sunroom that I keep between 40 and 50 degrees for the first half of winter. Come January, I move the clivia to a north-facing window in my warmer dining room and wait for the show to begin. Within a month, a flower stalk emerges from the center of the foliage, and for the next month I’m treated to a long-lasting winter show that makes the remaining days of winter a little more bearable.