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Aloe 'Cynthia Giddy' - A very attractive medium-sized aloe that clumps to form numerous rosettes to 2 feet tall with dark green lightly white-spotted leaves that have bronze to red highlights in the fall. Starting as early as in late winter appear the branched inflorescences of vibrant orange-red flowers that rise well above the foliage. Flowering peaks in the summer but we have had plants in flower through fall to as late as early December.
Plant in full sun to light shade in a well-drained soil and water occasionally to very little. This plant has proven hardy to 25 F in our garden without damage. A very nice long flowering plant with attractive foliage.
Aloe 'Cynthia Giddy' has long been in circulation in the U.S.A. and with its clean looking foliage and attractive flowers over a long period, it is one our favorite and most popular aloes. Though the name honors the late Cynthia Giddy (1933-1998), who was a South African conservationist, horticulturist and maintained Umlaas Nursery in Natal, South Africa, we have never determined whether this plant originally was actually bred by her or was bred by someone else and named to honor her. It may have surfaced or originated at Rancho Soledad Nursery in Rancho Santa Fe, California, but it seems most likely that it was an unnamed original plant from Cynthia Giddy's nursery that was later named in her honor. In 2005, when researching this plant's origins, we were told by Aloe hybridizer Kelly Griffin, then at Rancho Soledad Nursery, that he speculated it to be a cross between Aloe lateritia and A. cameronii. Cynthia Giddy died tragically in a car accident 1998 and so cannot be asked about this. This plant is sometimes confused with the spectacular but smaller Aloe 'Rooikappie', a plant that Cynthia Giddy did hybridize and introduce - both plants add color into the landscape for many months. We began growing Aloe 'Cynthia Giddy' in 2004 after purchasing stock plants from Rancho Soledad Nursery. We also grow a very nice large Gasteria that is also named for Cynthia Giddy called Gasteria croucheri 'Cynthia Giddy'.
This information about Aloe 'Cynthia Giddy' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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