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Dyckia 'Naked Lady' - A very attractive terrestrial bromeliad that grows in clusters with individual plants reaching 1 foot tall and 1 to 2 feet wide with strap-shaped lime-green plastic-looking leaves that are gracefully recurved and terminate in a sharp tip. Unlike all other Dyckia we know of, this plant has no spines along the margins and it is this attribute gives this plant its clever name. In spring plants grown with sufficient light produce tall wands of few-branching panicles bearing bright yellow-orange flowers.
Plant in bright shade or morning sun for the best color but plants in deep shade are still very attractive but rarely bloom. Water occasionally to regularly. Hardy to at least 20°F. We have not seen damage on this plant in short duration temperatures to 18°F (shaded location) and this plant made a list of the hardy to 20°F bromeliads that Dr. Dale Jenkins published for the Sarasota Bromeliad Society. A great plant in the garden or as a potted specimen. While some list this as a friendly plant, anyone who has worked around it knows the tips of the leaves are both rigid and sharp so careful placement in the garden or potted collection is necessary. Without its marginal spines this plant is fodder for rabbits and if you have them, an elevated pot is recommended.
The name for the genus honors Josef Maria Franz Anton Hubert Ignatz (1773-1861), who was the Prince and Earl of Salm Reifferscheid-Dyck and whose family ruled an area west of Cologne and Dusseldorf, Germany. The name is usually seen as Salm-Dyck. Dyckia 'Naked Lady' plant was discovered by Vivienne Doney (1904 - 1988) at her Monrovia succulent nursery. The name Naked Lady was suggested to her by Aloe hybridizer John Bleck during a visit to her nursery with Robert Foster in the mid to late 1960s. It began showing up in catalogs with this name as early as 1978. There has been speculation that this plant is a hybrid between Dyckia encholirioides and D. brevifolia. It has also been called 'Nude Lady'.
Information displayed on this page about Dyckia 'Naked Lady' is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will 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.
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