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Aloe 'Jenny Lind' - A low branching aloe with rosettes at the top of thick stems holding flat stout triangular shaped 6 to 10 inch long gray-green leaves with small flexible yellow teeth. In late winter into spring and sometime on into summer 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 in 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. It 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 from 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.
Information displayed on this page about Aloe 'Jenny Lind' 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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