Plant in full sun to light shade - the sunnier the spot the more flowers. Water regularly in summer or plant at the edge of the pond. Hardiness data is somewhat lacking but the plant is noted as surviving in Devon, England so it is likely able to tolerate moderately cold temperatures.

The species has a fairly restricted range, growing along wet seeps and streams in the otherwise hot and summer dry environment of the western Cape mountains and based on this it would seem best to plant this Nivenia in moist, moderately well-drained neutral to slightly acidic soil though plants are reported as surviving for several years in alkaline clay soils. The name for the genus honors the Scottish botanist James Niven (1774–1826) who was one of the first to collect plants in the genus. The specific epithet is from the Latin word 'corymbus' which means "a bunch of flowers" in reference to this plant's clustered inflorescences.

Nevenia belongs to a group of plants known as the woody iris and such is their peculiarity that a book was written about the group. This book by Peter Goldblatt, curator of African Botany at the St. Louis Botanic Garden, is titled The Woody Iridaceae: Nivenia, Klattia & Witsenia and in it Mr. Goldblatt describes the initial discovery of Nivenia corymbosa in Africa by Kew Garden collector Francis Mason and the cultivation of plants from seed that Scottish botanical collector James Niven (1776-1827) sent back to England. Niven's plants flowered in 1805 and were used in the description and artwork in Curtis Botanical Magazine as Witsenia corymbosa but was later described as Nivenia corymbosa.

We really loved this plant when it was happy but we found it too difficult to keep looking good in our nursery conditions and we only grew it from 2007 until 2009 from seed we purchased from Ginny Hunt's Seedhunt as part of her Plantsman's Pocket collection that was seed supplied to her by Martin Grantham. 

The information displayed on this page about Nivenia corymbosa is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.