New Aloe for 2012

Splashed & Freckled, Striped & Speckled

Those are all very well if you can grow them outdoors, if you live in a warm, dry climate. My winter abode for all the succulents in my collection is of necessity, a small bedroom with shelving and grow lights to keep them from getting too tall and leggy over the winter.

In my area there is a grower of Aloe, Haworthia, Gasteria and some other specialty succulents in the same vein, and when I went to see this hobbyist, I was astonished at the wide variety of types, colours and sizes.

I couldn't walk away without getting a few new Aloe from the selection that were available.

This grower late in the fall will move all the plants from the giant greenhouse into a small room with extreme insulation, a halide light on a timer and an automatic watering system that comes on once or twice through the winter. Then they pack up their motor home and head to Arizona for a couple of months, leaving all these plants on auto pilot.

It's worked out very well for them, and of course, they do have someone poking their head in to check on them occasionally. Now that's what I call low maintenance plants!

I'll have some plants from this new Aloe selection available at the end of the season. I've also just received some interesting new Aloe from swaps that took place at the end of the summer, so watch for Aloe variegata, Aloe tenuior and several others that are no identity types.

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