'hercul....' makes the little grey cells most active.

The hybrid would pick up some of the cold tolerance, of course, but since with Aloes this temp range wouldn't range very far (you're not going to breed an Aloe 'Frozen', IMO). Perhaps this is a better experiment with Ferocactus or Sedums and Sempervivums.

Nice Hercules, epiphyte78, and great looking front garden. I think my Herc grew 3 feet this year.

Not the same thing, but re: aloe hybridizing, I attended a talk by Kelly Griffin this year in which he talked about Aloe crosses...not about cold-hardiness, he briefly mentioned why hybrid Aloes tend to bloom a lot more than many of the species.

Aloes tend to have one or a few "triggers" that cause them to bloom--night temperatures, day temperatures, day length, etc. So that when you have a cross, the cross may inherit ALL the "triggers" of both parents, causing them to bloom much more than either of the parents. Or the cross may inherit none of the triggers, causing them to bloom rarely if at all.

Likely there is also a range of temperature tolerance over a large population of seedlings, don't you think?

cactusmcharris, there seem to be quite a few Aloes that can tolerate temperatures under 32F. But I'd certainly be interested to hear whether any cool x warm hybrid has a wider temperature grow range.

hoovb, thanks! That's interesting about the trigger traits. Now you have me wondering whether my Aloe africana is a hybrid. I think it's my only Aloe species that's bloomed twice in one year.

No two seedlings are exactly alike so there has to be some variation in temperature tolerance. Temperature tolerance probably isn't a single trait but a fairly large set of traits. Just like with drought tolerance. Each seedling is a unique combination of traits...which is a unique strategy. If each seedling tried the same strategy then it would be like Einstein's definition of insanity. Progress depends on difference.

The big question is whether the variation is significant. I think that the variation is going to be more significant when the parents are different species. The more different the parents are, the more different the combination of traits.

So I'm under the vague impression that we can make more temperature and drought tolerance progress via hybridization. Basically, it's more likely that one of the apples will fall further from the tree in the direction of greater tolerance.

Have you tried pollinating your Aloes and/or growing any from seed? A couple years ago I sowed the seeds from my variegated Aloe arborescens. Out of around a couple dozen seedlings...only one was variegated. Selecting for variegation is pretty easy because the difference isn't that difficult to spot. I'm hoping that back crossing this variegated Aloe seedling will yield a higher percentage of variegated seedlings. Then I'd plant them around the front yard and hope that I end up with a large variegated tree Aloe.

I think it would be as cold-hardy as the cold-hardy parent plant (didn't make it too far in botany). I have some hybrid ferns. In general I think the plants are healthier but sometimes they can be sterile. With grafted succelents (I know that's not exactly the same thing) the growth rate can increase a lot.

epi,

Yes, I know about the cold-tolerant ones, but my point is why choose to do this with an inherently not-cold-hardy plant? Just because they tolerate it in no way equates with them liking it - what Aloe benefits from cold?

Cactusmcharris- there could be a market for any hybrid depending on where it will grow. People might think- "I can grow that here!? I want one!"

Cooper,

And pigs may fly, which is definitely something I'm in the market for.

This last winter I tried to continue regularly watering a few of my orchids... Hercuthermal Experiment. If anybody is interested in some discussion on the topic... Prosthechea vitellina.