Aloe, Little Red Riding Hood Aloe 'Rooikappie'

This hybrid is a good size for small landscape spaces, large enough for a clump to show well but small enough to ship well. It is not pro...Read Morene to the tip die-back or other blemishes that seem to plague many other of the spotted aloes.

The name is Afrikaans for Little Red Riding Hood, and is pronounced "roy-copy." In the US it's also sold as 'Little Gem'. The Afrikaans name is sometimes misspelled 'Rudikoppe'.

The buds are orange with yellow tips, turning yellow as they open, not rose or mauve.

"This plant, noted by John Trager of the Huntington Botanic Gardens as one of the best results of aloe hybridization, 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." http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?pl...

Don't know what this is a cross of, but it's a great landscaping plant for southern CAlifornia. It has great color in high heat and full...Read More sun (reddish-brown with prominent spotting) on flattish leaves. Maximum diameter seems to be about 18", if that. Flowers are common and quite ornamental, on solitary of somewhat branching racemes abotu 2' tall. Flowers themselves are conical in shape and highly symmetrical while developing. Mature plants seem to flower periodically all year round. A large clump of this hybrid growing in the Huntington Gardens flowers literally every month of the year, though each plant seems to flower only 1-3x a year. Mine flowers 2x a year. So far, very easy plant.