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Aloe 'Jenny Lind' - A low clustering aloe with rosettes of flat stout triangular shaped 1-foot-long gray-green leaves with small flexible yellow teeth. In late winter into spring arise the 18-inch tall erect and few branched inflorescences bearing slightly spaced out tubular orange-red buds with green tips; flowers open a pale orange with slightly flared yellow and green petals.
Plant is full coastal to part sun in a well-drained soil, but with some shade from the hottest afternoon sun in inland situations and watered occasionally during summer months. Has proven hardy to 25° F but possibly hardier than the 23° F that its one known parent can go down to.
This plant was selected in 2010 from our seedlings of Fan Aloe, Aloe plicatilis (now reclassified to Kumara disticha) that was grown from seed collected boxed specimen plants in our nursery and as such, it is an open pollinated hybrid of this species. With many other aloes blooming around the same time as these plants, we really have no idea what the other parent is though some guesses have been Aloe vera and Aloe brevifolia. The foliage and stature of the plant is certainly different and the flower tube is shorter and opens up a bit more than typical Aloe plicatilis.
Since it has most recently been proposed that the fan aloe be put in its own genus as Kumara disticha, this plant would be an intergeneric hybrid. The name we applied to this cultivar comes from the Jenny Lind, a hand held folding fan with broad petal shaped leaves sometimes topped with feathers that was named for the stage name of famous Swedish singer Johanna Maria Lind (1820-1887) who was introduced to America by that consummate showman, P.T. Barnum, who sponsored her nationwide tour in 1850 that spawned the many items named for her such as the fan. When we uncovered the story about Jenny Lind we could think of no better name to give this hybrid fan aloe when we introduced this plant to the horticultural trade in 2014.
This information about Aloe 'Jenny Lind' 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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