Aloe Species, Cooper's Aloe, isiPutumane

The plant grows well along the southern Oregon Coast with cool summers and regular water. Multiplies rapidly and produces 2 flower spikes...Read More in late summer. Reduces itself in winter, but returns stronger each subsequent year. Last winter's low was 18 degrees.

Oddly tolerant of the heat as a potted plant in Arizona. Of all the grass Aloes I've attempted to grow, this one is the fastest and most...Read More reliable with flowers. Being in a pot, the frost of 2007 eliminated it from my collection, but I am curious to try it in a raised bed under shade cloth. Currently, this plant is in the shade of trees - not a full sun lover here.

grass aloe from S Africa- I got one through mail order and it has not grown much in the last 4 years, but it supposedly can take full sun...Read More and intense heat well... I find that it does much better with some shade, particularly here in super-hot, inland southern California. Sun seems to beat it down and wither it. Has thin succulent leaves with a few white spots - very upright habit. Some plants 'shrink' in winter, particularly if dry, too, but often come back even stronger the next spring. Eventually older plants can lose the distichous leaf pattern and grow in a normal swirl, but still very upright.

Flowers in mid to late summer, usually one per plant and about 2' tall (barely above the leaf line) and bicolored (olive green tips and orange bases).

Like most other grass aloes, Aloe cooperi is not a fan of baking hot, summer sun (found out the hard way). I personally find this a difficult aloe to keep alive for more than a few years. Mine have flowered wonderfully, but then they melt. Perhaps these are 'somewhat monocarpic'?