Aloe Species

I have grwon the species for 20+ years in Bonsall CA.

It grows and flowers well in complete shade location with bright lig...Read Moreht.

Not a super common aloe, but one of the more striking ones in full sun where large, fat succulent, blue-green leaves that can turn to a v...Read Moreiolet coloration in drought or cold. It makes large, unbranched, to minimally branched flowers of red-orange that emerge in the fall. It's a vigorous grower, at least here in So Cal, and makes an attractive addition to a succulent garden. It's sort of a 'crawling' aloe- though it sometimes will form an upright stem of up to 4'. It also is not a prolific suckerer. I got mine from someone weeding theirs and just chopped off the head of one. I stuffed it in the ground and it never even slowed down. It's a fairly fast growing aloe, though, so seedlings will end up being attractive adults in just 2-4 years. From Yemen where it is a high altitude plant (over 7000').

Leaves very soft and fleshy, and have a brilliant chartreuse fluid that leaks all over when cut... despite its yellow-green color, it immediately stains things purple (sidewalk below where I grow this plant has some nearly permanent deep purple stains). Several other species do this, too, I've noticed. Leaves even dry a dark, deep purple before turning the typical brown of a dead aloe leaf.

During a freeze in Southern California (Jan 07) when temps got into the mid 20s, this plant showed no damage despite many nearby species melting. However, flowers were severely damaged