My name is Dries Olivier and I am a 1951 model in fairly good condition. I stay in a town called Newcastle in the Republic of South Africa. Newcastle is situated halfway between Johannesburg and Durban. The altitude is around 1600 meters above sea level. Temperature goes up to 40 degrees C in summer and drop to -2 degrees C in winter. As I have an office in Johannesburg, I normally leave Newcastle on Monday mornings at 06:00 to Johannesburg and return to Newcastle on Friday afternoons.

I regard myself as a hobbyist gardener and a keen collector. Working with my plants gives me great joy and has a stress relieving effect on me. I do not claim to be either a botanist or an expert hybridizer. Hence, you will find that I liberally promote my friends who are commercial growers of plants and provide links to articles written by whom I regard as experts in their fields. Whatever material (plants and seeds) I do offer for sale will be limited, priced in a way that it is affordable to whoever wishes to get started and of a quality that I am proud of.

My Clivia collection started in early 1999 with a few plants I bought from the late Amie Grobler. Very soon, the Clivia bug got hold of me and I started buying plants and seeds from various growers in South Africa and later even from around the world.

My hybridizing started in 2000 and seeds were germinated and planted in the garden. Today I have more than 4000 plants in the garden and around 400 in pots under shade cloth and shade areas under trees. See my collection under CLIVIA.

Daylilies caught my interest in 2002/3 when I bought a number of plants from Barry Engelbrecht in Midrand near Johannesburg. Later I made contact with Yvonne Hargreaves in Australia and Kay Fearneyhough in the USA. They both send me some seeds which I germinated and grew on. In 2004/5 I started hybridizing myself and my collection grew ever since. In May 2005 I had the opportunity to visit a number of the best known hybridizers in Florida, USA. I bought some 2004 and 2005 releases from Stamile, Kirchoff and Morss, Salter, etc and brought them back with me to SA. See some of my collection under DAYLILIES.

My work involves promoting South Africa steel wire products in international markets. This offered me the opportunities to visit growers of Clivia and Daylilies in various parts of the world. In my collections, therefore, I have many fine specimens with high sentimental value to myself. Being from various growers, it offers me a wide gene pool and I am pleased with some of my hybridizing results. I have no illusions about making money from my hobby but then I cannot keep on just giving away seeds and plants.

To date, I regard myself as an amateur Clivia and Daylily grower. However, I have reached a point in my hobby, where I can sell some seeds, seedlings, plants and offsets. I also take pride in my own hybridizing results (most of which are done with guidance from friends for whom I have the greatest respect).

I trust that you will enjoy my website and I extend an open invitation to anyone interested in Clivia and Daylilies to CONTACT or visit me. May you also enjoy your own plants as much as I do enjoy mine! Any constructive criticism or suggestions to improve this site will be highly appreciated. I would also like to thank the folks who helped me to get this site going and to maintain it!!!