Ever changing scenes in the garden.  After I took the photo I realized how much the scene changed. Seeing it every day it seems to be the same. The aloes are Aloe gerstneri in front and you need to look close to see Aloe speciosa behind.

 Photo above was taken January 2007
 Photo below was taken January 2010

Aloe gerstneri blooms in summer  and Aloe speciosa in winter. The photo bellow is to show Aloe speciosa in bloom,  winter July 2009.

The angle of this photo is slightly different. There are still two Aloe gerstneri  plants the second one is behind the first one.  The toppled plum tree can be seen in the background  with only a few yellow leaves on it. The winter growing mesemb on the left is now bright green.  This photo below of Aloe speciosa  was taken 1 Aug. 2010.  In fact I went and took this photo a few minutes ago. Those flower racemes are at least 50 cm high and there are three! Below, this aloe from the side showing clearly the rosette facing north which is the rule for this aloe species.