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Aloe 'Rooikappie' (Little Red Riding Hood Aloe) - A very attractive smaller clumping aloe that grows to less than 1 foot tall with many densely clustered 12 inch wide rosettes of medium green, attractively spotted leaves that arch outward then slightly down near the tips and produce 2 foot tall branched, flat-topped inflorescences of flowers that are orange in bud with pendant flowers opening to show pale yellow interior and petals. Flowering has been noted year-round but is especially prolific in the fall.
Plant in full sun to light shade and give occasional to infrequent irrigation. Is cold hardy to short duration temperatures down to at least 25° F. A great accent plant in a small garden or massed as a ground cover. It is not prone to the tip die-back or other blemishes that seem to plague many other of the spotted aloes.
This plant is noted by John Trager, the Desert Garden Curator at the Huntington Botanical Gardens, as one of the best results of aloe hybridization. It was bred by the late Cynthia Giddy, possibly as early as 1974, and thought to be from an open-pollinated cross of an unknown plant with what was thought to be Aloe sinkatana but was more likely the newly described Aloe zubb. Giddy was a South African conservationist, horticulturist and author of "The Cycads of South Africa" (Purnell & Sons,1974 ). She was a noted authority on clivia, Aloe and African cycads and maintained a nursery in Natal, South Africa called Umlaas Nursery. The name 'rooikappie' translates in Afrikaans to "little red cap" and was the original name used for the for Grimm's fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood". This plant was long in the collection at the Huntington Botanic Garden (HBG 32501) and distributed in 2004 through International Succulent Introductions as ISI 2004-13. Aloe 'Rooikappie' Giddy signifying that Cynthia Giddy she was the author of the name. This plant is sometimes sold under the incorrect names, Aloe rudikoppe, Aloe 'Little Gem' or Aloe 'Rooikappie Giddy'. We have grown this great plant since 2008. We also grow another very nice plant called Aloe 'Cynthia Giddy' that was named to honor this amazing plantswoman who tragically died in a car accident in 1998.
This information about Aloe 'Rooikappie' 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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