If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you've probably come across the name Nick Deinhart. Nick is one of the best agave and aloe growers I know, and he's made countless cool hybrids — I'm lucky to have some in my garden right now. And I'm even luckier to count Nick as a friend.
The following is an article I wrote for the Cactus and Succulent Journal, published quarterly by the Cactus and Succulent Society of America. It appeared in their Summer 2026 issue (Vol. 98-2). It's a long piece, about 2,600 words, and it goes into a lot of geeky detail, but ultimately it's a story of dedication, determination, and dogged pursuit to follow the path you've set for yourself. Nick has been doing amazing work in aloe hybridization, mostly for himself and without seeking attention. But I think it's high time for him to get some of the recognition he so richly deserves.
Grower’s Spotlight: Nick Deinhart
Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 98-2 (Summer 2026)
Photos by Gerhard Bock and Nick Deinhart
On California’s Central Coast, a quiet horticultural revolution is unfolding—one seedling at a time. Nick Deinhart (Figs.1 and 2), currently Horticulture Unit Manager at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, is a plant breeder with a deep family legacy and a penchant for tinkering with genetics who is redefining what an aloe can be. Over 25 years, he has moved from the “ugly” accidents of a novice to the complex, multi-species hybrids that now define his breeding program, driven by a pursuit of the Holy Grail: aloes that bloom multiple times a year.
Roots in the Azores and the Central Valley
The foundations of Nick’s career were laid long before he understood the science behind plants. He was born into a family where gardening was a part of life. His great-grandfather, an immigrant from the Azores, an island chain off the coast of Portugal, maintained a beautiful garden in San Jose that served as Nick’s earliest classroom. “He was a true horticulturalist,” Nick recalls. “He didn’t really know the names of plants or even care. He just admired them for their beauty. And he was an amazing propagator.” Complementing his great-grandfather’s influence was a more practical education from his father for whom the annual summer vegetable garden was a cherished ritual. “A highlight of my childhood was him and me, every year planning and executing our summer garden,” Nick remembers. “That was always really special to me.”
These formative years instilled in Nick a fundamental connection to the soil that would eventually lead him to pursue a plant-oriented career. He earned an Associate’s degree in horticulture from Modesto Junior College while working in local retail nurseries, followed by a BS in plant science from Fresno State University.
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| Fig. 2 Nick’s outdoor growing area in San Luis Obispo. |
The spark: a raffle and a monk
Nick’s entry into the world of hybridization was fueled by a combination of luck and literature. At a show and sale hosted by the San Joaquin Cactus and Succulent Society at a Stockton mall—an event Nick hadn’t even known existed—he won a $50 gift certificate to Poot’s Cactus Nursery nearby. He used it to buy his first small aloes, Aloe jucunda and Aloe bakeri.
For a year, the plants grew quietly side by side, but eventually, they bloomed at the same time and set fruit. Nick, a junior college student at the time, was immersed in Robin Marantz Henig’s book The Monk in the Garden, which details the groundbreaking genetic discoveries of Moravian monk and naturalist Gregor Mendel. “The stars were aligned,” Nick says, as the academic theories of heredity met the physical reality of his blooming aloes. Though those first seedlings were, in his estimation, “the ugliest hybrids ever” and were promptly discarded, the conceptual seed had been planted. He realized he did not have to be a passive observer of nature; he could be an active participant.
Living in the “sleepy one-horse town” of Modesto, Nick was initially isolated from the active succulent breeding scene in Southern California. He was unaware that figures like David Verity and Kelly Griffin were already doing pioneering work in aloe hybridization. “I kind of independently started doing this and found out that I could do it,” he says of those early experiments.
Finding the tribe: Fresno and San Diego
A move to Fresno to attend Fresno State proved to be a turning point, not just for Nick’s education, but also for his personal life. During a tumultuous period following the tragic loss of his father, the Fresno Cactus and Succulent Society became a sanctuary. Despite being decades younger than most members, Nick found a surrogate family among the “grandmothers” of the club. “It was like I found my tribe,” he reflects. “Those ladies took me in. We all loved plants the same way.”
After graduating and moving to North San Diego County, he joined the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society where he made many valuable connections. A year or so later, as he was getting ready to leave San Diego and move north to San Luis Obispo, he became friends with Jeremy Spath, now a leading agave hybridizer (HiddenAgave.com). He considers Jeremy a “brother from another mother” and a primary influence on his life.
Their friendship led to botanical expeditions in Mexico with Kelly Griffin, already known as a master aloe and agave hybridizer. On their first trip, in 2015, Nick, as the “greenhorn,” served as the “chauffeur to the tour guide,” driving hundreds of miles across several states in five days to see species like Agave horrida in their native habitats. This was followed by many more trips with Jeremy and Kelly, sometimes two or three a year. While Nick’s primary focus today is aloe hybrids, he also grows pure species from seed, both aloes and agaves, and he makes the occasional ×Mangave (Figs. 3 through 5).
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| Fig. 3 Seed-grown Aristaloe aristata |
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| Fig. 4 Seed-grown Agave impressa |
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| Fig. 5 ×Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave ‘Blue Glow |
The architecture of the hybrid: Aloe humilis and Aloe hemmingii
Nick’s initial experiments with Aloe jucunda and Aloe bakeri in the early 2000s were a valuable learning experience but didn’t produce any memorable results. What really kicked off Nick’s aloe breeding obsession was Aloe humilis (Fig. 6), a diminutive species he loves for its compact size and the prickles that cover its leaves. One day he came across Aloe hemmingii released by Altman Plants (incorrectly labeled Aloe harlana at the time). He found a “really nice high-white one” at a big box store, which he then crossed with Aloe humilis. He got about a dozen seedlings. Most were unremarkable, but one stood out—a plant that retained the distinctive prickles of Aloe humilis on both the top and bottom of the leaf while inheriting the larger teeth and robust nature of Aloe hemmingii. Crucially, this hybrid exhibited a trait that would define Nick’s career: it bloomed several times a year. This cross remains in his collection today (Fig 7), serving as the genetic foundation for many of his subsequent projects. “It may not be super showy, but it has the reblooming trait, and that’s what I’m trying to pass on,” he says.
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| Fig. 6 Aloe humilis. |
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| Fig. 7 Nick with an offset from his original Aloe humilis × hemmingii cross. |
The pursuit of the Holy Grail: re-blooming aloes
In the world of aloe breeding, the Holy Grail is a plant that transcends the once-a-year flowering cycle. Nick’s goal is to create specimens that provide year-round color and interest, particularly for today’s smaller residential gardens.
Early in his career, he was at the mercy of the seasons, “praying” that two desirable plants would bloom simultaneously. After reading about other breeders freezing pollen, he experimented with the method and found it highly successful, with aloe pollen remaining viable for up to a year. This allows him to crossbreed species with different blooming schedules, for example a species that flowers in January with one that blooms in June. The resulting hybrids often inherit the bloom times of both parents and flower repeatedly throughout the year.
Another major influence in this pursuit was Brian Kemble, the curator of the
Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. Brian worked both with
Aloe humilis and
Aloe zubb (known as
Aloe sinkatana at the time), the latter a rebloomer by nature. Brian noted that hybrids involving
Aloe zubb often flowered more than once, a finding Nick confirmed through his own lineage of
Aloe zubb hybrids.
The “zubb empire” and the “mini ferox”
The Aloe zubb lineage is perhaps the most significant result of Nick’s long-term work. It began with a hybrid between an orange-flowering Aloe zubb and a yellow-flowering Aloe marlothii. This produced a yellow-flowering hybrid which he then crossed back to an orange-flowering zubb. One of the seedlings stood out for its beauty. Nick named it ‘Cheerleader’ for its vibrant, pom-pom-like flowers (Fig. 8). This hybrid, a mix of three-quarters zubb and one-quarter marlothii, seemed to never stop flowering.
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| Fig. 8 Aloe ‘Cheerleader’ (Aloe zubb crossed with a yellow-flowering Aloe marlothii, backcrossed to Aloe zubb). Nick uses ‘Cheerleader’ in many crosses (see Fig. 24-25). |
Nick then took ‘Cheerleader’ and crossed it with Aloe ferox, a South African giant known for its massive blooms (Figs. 9 through 11). This gave rise to his “mini ferox” series—plants that possess the dramatic, robust flower power of the large species but remain compact enough for smaller gardens. “I want to see big flowers, lots of racemes, lots of color,” Nick explains, noting that he now has a “high threshold for pleasure” when it comes to aloe blooms. These mini ferox types often bloom three times a year, with each cycle lasting weeks to months (Fig. 12).
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| Fig. 9 Classic form of Aloe ferox in flower. |
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| Fig. 10 Dark red-flowering candelabrum form of Aloe ferox (‘Black Cherry’) that Nick has used in many hybrids. |
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| Fig. 11 Close-up of Aloe ferox/candelabrum ‘Black Cherry’ flowers. |
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| Fig. 12 Aloe ‘King Zubb’: Aloe [(zubb × (zubb × marlothii)] × ferox. |
Collaborations in the landscape
While many hobbyist hybridizers keep their work private, Nick’s plants have found their way into the world through his friendship with another Nick—Nick Wilkinson. Wilkinson, local landscape designer (
Botanica Nova) and owner of
GROW Nursery in nearby Cambria, has been an invaluable supporter, purchasing Nick’s hybrids and incorporating them into his landscape designs throughout the region.
One prominent example of this collaboration is the Cambria Shores Inn on Moonstone Beach, owned by Wilkinson’s parents. Wilkinson planted some of Nick’s crosses in the hotel’s succulent garden, providing Nick with a unique opportunity to see his creations reach their mature potential (Fig. 13). “Having my hybrids in local landscapes has been so beneficial for me,” Nick says, especially as he has moved many times over the years and has rarely had a garden of his own. Even today, he keeps tabs on how his creations are doing and collects pollen where possible (Figs. 14 and 15). Other pollen sources include
Aloes in Wonderland, Jeff Chemnick’s private botanical garden, and
Cold Spring Aloes, Tom Cole’s nursery, both in Santa Barbara.
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| Fig. 13 Aloe comptonii × ferox planted out at Cambria Shores Inn. |
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| Fig. 14 Nick hand-pollinating Aloe capitata × rubroviolacea. |
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| Fig. 15 Nick often applies pollen from multiple aloes to a single inflorescence. Different colored threads indicate the pollen source. |
Genetics, variability, and scoffing by the purists
As Nick’s hybrids have moved into their F2 generations and beyond, the genetic complexity has increased exponentially. Some of his current crosses are the product of five or six different species, including marlothii, claviflora, cameronii, and aculeata. The most complex read like mathematical formulas, for example [(zubb × (zubb × marlothii) × ferox] × (marlothii × thraskii) (Fig. 16). With so many years of practical experience, Nick usually has a fairly good idea of which traits a new hybrid is likely to inherit, but there is always an element of chance, and surprises do happen—good and not so good.
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| Fig. 16 This tag shows how complex some of Nick’s hybrids have gotten. |
Botanical purists, who believe species should remain unadulterated, occasionally scoff at Nick’s tinkering with nature’s blueprints. (Sometimes it’s more like a good-natured ribbing since Nick is friends with many of his critics.) Ultimately, Nick remains unfazed by the “eyerolling” from the traditionalist camp. “I don’t do this because I’m looking for others’ approval,” he says. “I do it because I genuinely love it.”
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| Fig. 17 Aloe cameronii × white-flowering form of ferox. |
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| Fig. 18 Aloe ‘Jim’s Jubilee’: Aloe (arborescens × ferox) × spectabilis. |
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| Fig. 19 Aloe ‘January Embers’: Aloe (arborescens × ferox) × spectabilis. This is a sibling to ‘Jim’s Jubilee’ in Fig. 18, demonstrating how seedlings from the same batch can turn out to be quite different. |
For him, the goal is not to replace nature, but to celebrate and expand upon its beauty, bringing together the best qualities of the parents involved and creating something new and unique that would otherwise not exist.
Next step: tissue culture?
After 25 years of hobbyist breeding, Nick is considering the next phase of his work: possible commercialization. While in the past he has shared hybrid seeds with wholesale nurseries like
San Marcos Growers, many of his most spectacular hybrids remain one-offs. The potential for tissue culture—a method of cloning plants in a laboratory setting—would allow him to release his “best-of ” selections to a wider audience (Figs. 17 through 36).
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| Fig. 23 Aloe betsileensis × marlothii. |
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| Fig. 24 Aloe ‘Cheerleader’ × ferox. |
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Fig. 25 Aloe ‘Cheerleader’ × ferox. Same parents, very different look.
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| Fig. 26 Aloe (chortolirioides × arborescens) × compressa. |
The prospect is not entirely foreign to him; his senior project at Fresno State involved the successful tissue culture of aloes, and his poster board from that project still hangs in the university lab. With his brother-in-law being an automation engineer with available space on his and Nick’s sister’s property, the idea of a private lab has come up a time or two. For now, it’s just a dream, but dreams do sometimes come true.
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| Fig. 27 Aloe globuligemma × marlothii ‘Utrecht’ |
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| Fig. 28 Aloe vanbalenii × ferox. |
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| Fig. 29 Aloe ‘Rachael’: Aloe (striata × maculata) × prinslooi. |
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| Fig. 30 Aloe conifera × marlothii |
Enduring passion
Ultimately, Nick’s work is driven by the same curiosity that led to the “ugly” seedlings in his first hybridization attempt 25 years ago. Whether he is experimenting with grass aloes like Aloe chortolirioides or crossing rarely seen species like Aloe ankoberensis with complex zubb descendants, he remains a dedicated student of the genus. Today, he is less interested in acquiring rare species from others, finding more excitement in the “in-house” possibilities of his own creations.
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| Fig. 31 Aloe ‘Vincent Price’: Aloe humilis × aculeata. |
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| Fig. 32 Aloe (mawii × munchii) × capitata. |
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| Fig. 33 Aloe ‘Cellar Dweller’: Aloe humilis × aculeata. |
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| Fig. 34 Most Aloe flowers are brightly colored. Some species from the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula are more muted in color and have fuzzy flowers. This hybrid (Aloe trichosantha × tomentosa) combines two such species. |
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| Fig. 35 Another cross with fuzzy flowers: Aloe (dorotheae × tomentosa) × lavranosii. |
25 years in, Nick has made more aloe hybrids than he can count. “It’s my way to bring some beauty into the world,” Nick says of his lifelong commitment to aloe hybridization. “I just have a passion for doing it, and it keeps me out of trouble.” As his babies—some with five or six species in their bloodline—make their way into gardens across California and beyond, they carry with them a legacy that began in the Azores and has flourished through two and a half decades of dogged pursuit. “It takes many years to see these projects through to flower. Good thing I started young.”
© Gerhard Bock, 2026. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.
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