Aloe Species

I've had this since it was practically in a liner small and unidentified. I did notice it seemed to be stressed by summer drought more th...Read Morean most Aloe's. It was like I couldn't water it enough in the usual hot dry spot good for arid loving plants.
Now that I know what it is,coming from a summer wet climate,it makes sense.
I imagine the best photos are of plants given plenty of summer watering.
Still,nice colorful foliage..and we will see what mine looks like when it flowers.

Grown from a small specimen from a Tucson nursery over ten years ago. My aloe cryptopoda is a large 2 1/2 foot high dark green color with...Read More stout but narrow leaves, thrives in light shade under large pine tree, does not offset, blooms in winter. Bloom may freeze but plant never has not shown frost damage in temperatures into the mid to upper 20's F, although it is under the pine tree which provides some protection. Supplemental watering in summer.

Here in coastal Otago, New Zealand, (zone 9 roughly) this aloe is sold as cryptopoda though it is almost always a very uniform dark olive...Read More green with a pronounced velvety leaf texture and reddish brown marginal spines. So perhaps we really have lutescens? Not sure I mind- its a striking plant that seems hardy and undemanding, though I think basal rot may be an issue if planted too deeply. Like many aloes, leaf tip browning can occur if conditions are too dry.
Very tactile with its suede-like leaves and the unusual dark green colour is an attractive foil to the other blue-grey aloes, making it valuable as an accent in a grouped collection.

Update: the olive-green variety succumbed to basal rot but the silver form I also have has churgged along nicely, albeit falling victim sometimes to black leaf spotting, presumably due to humidity at the wrong time of year. Generally though, not too demanding a species.

See some of our plants and gardenalia at The Blackthorn Orphans.com

Some references now group A. wickensii and A. cryptopoda together as A. crytopoda. Long slender leaves with a margin of dark brown teeth...Read More characterize this solitary plant. Flower color can range from dark red to yellow, with the leaf color varying from dark green to blue. Some flowers are bi-color.

The species rarely pups, but hybrids of A. crytopoda readily pup.