Saguaro Feliz: All About Aloes Amazing tips

Aloes! No other succulents add such vivid color, interest and drama to low-water, mild-climate gardens. Many aloes flower in winter, when little else does. Available Aloe varieties are ever-increasing, with intriguing new cultivars being introduced all the time.

Aloes were what first attracted me to succulents back in the '90s. I've since added dozens, large and small, to my garden (Zone 9b, inland Southern CA, temp range 30-105 degrees F). For decades I've photographed, videoed, researched, and written about these showy succulent superstars from South Africa.

In addition to numerous photos and mentions in my books, I offer plenty of aloe info on my site and YouTube channel. It's all there to help you select, care for, design with and enjoy aloes in your own garden, both in pots and in the ground.

What I have for you, aloewise:

Aloes: Uses, Photos, IDs & Varieties

Aloes: How To Grow & Varieties All about aloes plus a photo gallery of aloes ID’d and in bloom See All Succulent Types Aeonium Agaves Aloes Cactus Crassula Echeveria Euphorbias Ice Plants Kalanchoe Portulacaria Senecio About Aloes There are dozens of species of Aloe, from tall trees to dwarf cultivars. Aloes typically have juicy, triangular leaves…

Which Aloes Are Best for Your Garden?

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. If you love succulents, live in a mild climate, and grow these South Africans in soil that drains well, “they’ll soon become your favorite plants,” Bills says. For a natural setting, he suggests…

Red Aloe ferox, stressed (c) Debra Lee Baldwin

Midwinter Succulent Show: Big Aloes In Bloom

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…

How to Manage Aloe Mite

They seem everywhere in spring: mite-damaged aloes ranging from dwarf cultivars to tree ‘Hercules’. The microscopic pests (Eriophyes aloines) are not insects but spider relatives. They cause deformed flowers, a bubbly fringe on leaf edges, and orange-and-green growths where leaves meet stems. Google “aloe mite treatment,” “aloe mite prevention,” “aloe gall” or “aloe cancer,” and you’ll discover that distinguished experts, landscape designers, succulent societies…

Tom Cole’s Remarkable Rare Aloe Nursery

Tom Cole’s aloe-collecting hobby has turned into a unique nursery. Hundreds of seed-grown African aloes thrive in pots or in the ground at his Cold Spring Aloes near Lotusland in Montecito, south of Santa Barbara, CA.

Aloe vera leaf sliced (c) Debra Lee Baldwin

Why You Should Grow Aloe Vera

Can you grow Aloe vera in your garden as an ornamental plant and harvest its medicinal leaves? Yes, but heed cautions below. This midsized succulent with tall, slender yellow flowers is famous for gel that soothes minor burns and skin irritations.