I just started feeling so much happier. I was watering my four very large clivia plants this morning and suddenly I discovered that flower stalks were starting to emerge in two of them. This is what the books say should happen with clivias, but it doesn’t always work that way.

My spirits soar when something I have done proves successful. When a seed germinates, for example. And here the clivias were starting to bloom. All on their own without any input from me.

Photo: Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp

Maybe that was the key. Since clivias are a South African plant that naturally experience weeks of total drought in their native habitat and come into bloom only after the arrival of the rainy season, we North American houseplant growers are told to refrain from watering them during our winter months. Then, after we resume watering in, say, February, the plants will be prompted to bloom again in, say, March. Hard to follow that advice. Our instincts tell us otherwise. Surely it must be bad to let them sit dry for weeks on end, we think.

I confess that, over the years, I have sometimes watered more than I should. Yes, I have had bountiful blooming from some of the plants, but recently the schedule was getting erratic. One of the plants didn’t bloom this last year until July.

And so, when I brought them indoors after their summer vacation in the outdoor shade of the house next door, I resolved not to water them for weeks on end. But this morning, a Saturday at the end of January, I decided the time had come for a little stimulus. And then, lo and behold, a miracle! Stalks peeking out amidst the leaves with clusters of buds on top. Life on the move. Call it a God’s-in-His-Heaven-all’s-right-with-the-world moment.

Thus buoyed, I gave each of my pots a drink and then put the water jar away. I won’t bring it out again for a month. Really.

— Carolyn Ulrich