Family Kaffir Lily

My sister Cece, who lives in southeast Missouri and is enjoying spring flowers (and her asparagus) already, recently sent me pictures of her Kaffir lilies. The mother plant has lots of red berries on the stalks the flowers had been on. Her smaller one is just now blooming. I’ve always cut off the flower stalks once they start puffing up to make seeds. I’d thought maybe if I didn’t, it would somehow diminish the plant and prevent future blooms. But Cece says she hasn’t and it’s always bloomed again. So now I need to go look up proper care of Kaffir lilies. Our younger sister, Charlie, also in southeast Missouri, joined the group text, wondering if hers would bloom soon.

How to care for Clovis (Kaffir/bush) lilies in containers: This plant is also known as the Flame lily. It prefers to be somewhat shaded. Direct sun will cause browned leaf tips. It should be watered sparingly in the fall and winter months. (I nailed that by being away a lot.) My research shows I can plant the off-shoots. It grows by rhizomes. You can plant the seed or do plant divisions, so I guess I can let mine form seed pods (berries) if it blooms again. Although this same source also says to cut off the flower stalk so it doesn’t produce berries, which could prevent next seasons blooms. Decisions, decisions… Kaffir lilies are poisonous, all parts of it, so not a good choice if you have puppies or kitties that chew on plants. They do need to be brought inside before frosts hit.

Cece’s photos prompted me to go check on my plant. There was what I’d thought initially was a flower stalk starting to form, deep amongst the leaves on one clump. Closer inspection revealed that to be dead blossoms that had dropped from the now-expired diplodenia (it didn’t appreciate the spotty watering ensuing from our trips) on a shelf above the lily. Mine didn’t bloom at all last summer, but that was the first summer I’d kept it indoors. It had always suffered lots of leaf damage from our strong Montana winds. I haven’t yet a spot in my yard that is wind-proof. Cece consoled me with the comment, “…the leaves look better not all beat up!”

You may remember me talking about my mom smuggling a bit of Kaffir lily root home with us from Germany. This was in 1968. After she passed, dad still hauled the huge pot in and out of the house each summer. Cece volunteered to repot it to make it easier for him. She needed a sledge hammer to break the root out of the clay pot they’d so thoroughly invaded. She split it five ways, and made sure all us girls (4) got an offshoot. This happened about 40 years ago.

I did find my plant has birthed two new clumps of leaves (offshoots). Maybe I’ll get around to repotting it this summer, and give those new plants their own cramped pot. They do like to have their roots constricted in a deep, narrow pot. When I repotted mine many years ago, I gifted offshoots to both of my sisters-in-law.

Now that I’ve chattered so much about my non-flower-producing Kaffir lily (I also learned that that term is offensive to some, so I should retrain my brain to call it Clovia), I’m going to share another recipe. I recently made a big pot of this soup to share with our chemo-enduring daughter. It may have been a bit too spicy (tomato-ey) for her right now. I used a lot of my frozen tomatoes from last summer. She needs more blandness, so back to chicken noodle or chicken rice soups.

Lasagna Soup

1 pd. hamburger

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp thyme

1 Tbl brown sugar

1 (32 oz) box chicken broth

2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

2 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp sly

2 C broken lasagna noodles

1 (5 oz) pkg grated Parmesan

2 C shredded mozzarella

Brown hamburger with onion and garlic. Add next seven ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add noodles and simmer until tender. Top with cheeses. Broil until browned.

I didn’t broil the cheeses, just stirred them in. I’m still glad I made this soup. I kept a good-sized serving for myself, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And Dennis is happy as now I won’t be making lasagna for quite some time. He hates lasagna - it’s a pasta dish.