miércoles, 2 de enero de 2019

In Midwinter, See Aloes Blooming Amazing tips

Above: Aloe ferox at Desert Theater nursery, Escondido, CA. From my video, Spectacular Aloes in Flower.

Large, sculptural aloes with brilliant, Popsicle-like flowers make striking garden plants. Midwinter is peak aloe bloom season and an excellent time to see them in nurseries and landscapes.

Aloe ferox, or Cape Aloe, might be considered a tree because of its height at maturity–6 to 8 feet with bloom spikes that add another couple of feet—but unlike true tree aloes, it’s not branching. Growth is from the center of the rosette, and old leaves dry and wither, so eventually you have a large octopus of a plant atop a columnar trunk. Although the skirt of dry leaves hugging the trunk can be removed to make the plant more tidy, it’s best to keep them on. As in the aloe’s native habit of South Africa, these wraparound leaves protect the trunk from excessive heat, sun and cold. Aloe ferox does well in Southern California except in mountain and desert areas, and is hardy to the low 20s.

Two specimens of Aloe marlothii in bloom flank an Aloe ferox not in bloom.

Aloe marlothii is similar to Aloe ferox and hybridizes readily with it, so it’s often hard to tell which is which. A. marlothii blooms later (in early spring), flower stems branch horizontally, and leaves are prickled—sometimes heavily so.

For sources, see my list of nurseries.

More Aloe Info

On this site ~

Aloe Superstars: A Landscape Designer’s Favorites

One of Southern CA’s in-demand landscape designers, Bill Schnetz of Schnetz Landscape, Inc., likes to use aloes of all sizes in residential gardens…[Continue reading]

Go to my Aloes page for 80+ Aloe photos and IDs
Most of my aloe photos show the plants in bloom. After all, their large, vivid flowers are… [Continue reading]

Books ~

With 344 pages and over 1000 images, nurseryman/designer Jeff Moore’s beautifully illustrated Aloes & Agaves in Cultivation is the definitive guide to growing aloes in California. Update, Jan. 2019: The softcover edition is sold out. You can order the hardcover for $50 by contacting Jeff at solanasucculents@gmail.com or calling (858) 259-4568. He has only a few left. Btw, Amazon has one copy for $3,214.79! Jeff agrees that’s ridiculous. It comes down to supply and demand.