The dry hot summer in colorful shades of pink and green. January and February are our hottest months. It was the end of February today and I already noticed for some days that the sun was up later than me. From now on the temperatures will be cooler with just some hot days between. However until the rain starts in six weeks or more, the soil will dry out more.

The very dry aloes are hanging on to their water reserves - waiting not growing. Each season has a distinct attractiveness in the aloe and succulents garden.

Aloe microstigma turned into shades of orange-pink and shows off very pretty in the garden, but on the mountain slopes where they grow, they are near to invisible between rocks and dry bushes.

The leaves are rolled up like narrow spikes. The fine bushes keep the roots cool and the pale green background is a good contrast against the aloes.
Aloe khamiesensis which grows in a very harsh habitat.

One thing I really like about the dry summer - no weeds in summer!

Nature park in the heart of the Karoo.
We wanted to see Aloe broomii and Aloe claviflora in bloom in their habitat. There can be no nicer place to go and look for them than in the Nature Park at Beaufort West in the Karoo.

Photo above :-  A very friendly welcome at the entrance to the park.  This is Aloe broomii habitat. The inflorescens of this aloe is unbranched with densely packed small flowers. The buds are still tightly closed on the photo above.

 More aloes in the small garden at the entrance to the park The bungalows are at the foot of the mountains in the background, far from the noisy N1 traffic.

Photo above:- The view late afternoon from the back of our bungalow. There are some walking trails but visitors may walk where they please in the park before 17:00. The only warning is to remain in the car if the rhinos are visible. And take note bird watchers - In the park there is also bird watching huts at a dam where a large variety of birds will at least visit to drink.

We saw only the dung of the rhino on the dry river bed. Much more interesting was the exposed history where the river cut into the terrain exposing large rocks deposited by a glacier some 250 million years ago. Those rocks are about one and a half metre high (four to five feet) and a few are larger. I thought I could use the tree to show size but it is not as effective as it would have been with one of us standing there.
I took one of the small boulders home, so that I can look at a 250+ million year old souvenir in my garden. By the way at this stage Africa was still part of Gondwanaland, with South America, India and Australia.

It was only millions of years later when the continents drifted apart making cracks in the crust where volcanoes erupted, that the forces of nature folded and turned whole mountains on their side, as if it was playing with clay. This photo was taken in the Small Karoo to the south of Beaufort West. The folds can be seen much better when the photo is larger. Click on the photo.

Back to the present, we were driving up and down mountains looking for our aloes. One of the roads is visible to the left and back of the photo. We took the footpath to the top of this mountain but even that was without success. The aloes we saw at the entrance were nice, but the purpose of our visit was to see them in the wild. We saw many different wild antelope but the only wild things that we wanted to see were the aloe plants, and we found nothing on the top of the mountain or even in the deep crevices (where aloes often grow, no joking). We had a laugh to think we wanted to see them in flower, now we will be happy to see any one. There will be aloes somewhere in this very large park, but it seems they are not near any of the usual trails.

thank you for the water restrictions2004 was another dry year where the dams that supply water to towns in the Western Cape were running very low. One of the dams that supply both Cape Town and Moorreesburg were at a 15% low. Water restrictions were vital.
It was then that it finally dawned on us that we did not need a lawn. Especially not this small block of grass 9 metres x 10 metres with bare patches and holes dug by the dogs. I did not even take a photo of the lawn (or rather grass patch) as there is no need for me to be reminded of the frustration that went with it.




This was the first part of the transformation after we were sure all traces of grass were dead. We had to dig in compost and dolomite gravel as the soil was in poor condition. I love digging, pity there are always weeding to be done in the garden, seldom any digging. The photo was taken some time in January 2005.



This photo was taken June 2005 which is in winter and that is our rain season. The green moss growth can be seen on the path, right front of the photo. So far only the triangle middle back has been planted, but the other plants were growing fine and ready to be transplanted.
 It is not wise to replant aloes in wet conditions. The thick sap filled roots are brittle and break easy where rot can set in. There are three options at any time if the roots break; let them dry out before planting; cut them off completely (good idea as the roots will rot away or dry up in any case); or in dry conditions plant the aloes but do not water the aloe for at least 6 weeks. It is best to plant aloes when the new roots (they are bright yellow) start to show, at this stage they are not easily damaged. The roots of an aloe can be seen as expendable. The plant absorb the roots in bad times and regrow them very quickly in good times.

The photo above, of our backdoor garden December 2006, which is our summer. Two years after we started with the garden on the photo at the top. It was summer with few aloes in bloom. The Aloe africana was blooming out of season due to it being disturbed by transplanting such a large plant. It was transplanted by Rudi using his trusted method described in his blog resurrecting an aloe

The plants on the photo far left are all immature, they should make a better show in a few months time. I will show more details of the plants in the winter (June-July 2007)  follow this link below.

For more information on how this garden developed. 

Summertime blooms with small differences
Summer is not the best time for flowers in our aloe garden, as most South African aloes bloom in winter. It is only the small area down here in the Western Cape where the winter rainfall aloes bloom in summer. It is logical coming to think of it, flowering in summer result in seeds ready for the rain in winter and the opposite holds true for the summer rainfall aloes. However rainfall in the dry desert areas of Namibia is the mainly in summer but the aloes will bloom before or after winter if there was good rainfall, shifting the flowering times to make the most of the rain. Then there are the tropical aloes which blooms at least twice a year and some hybrids bloom twice a year too. I understand there are some aloe cultivators who aim to develop a hybrid aloe which will bloom the whole year round like many of our cultivated garden flowers.
In short - it is possible to have at least one of the aloe species (or hybrids) in bloom at any time throughout the year. That does not mean changing the watering times will change the flowering times, nature tuned the plants finer than that. The plants have a daylight length timer and temperature timer as well. Having said that, it is possible to manipulate water, light and temperature including hormones, but not for the normal garden.
My favourite in our garden at this time is Aloe comosa the single stem plant can grow up to 5 metres with an inflorescens (flower stalk) that grows around 2 meters . The inflorescens keeps growing as the flowers open. Note the size of the plants (the two blue plants at my feet) in contrast to those long flower stalks. These plants were cultivated from seeds and it is their second year in bloom.





The habitat of Aloe comosa is just about 100 km north of Moorreesburg so we do not have any problem growing this aloe. A. comosa is a single trunk aloe. The flowers are a pastel peach-pink shading to cream as they open. The plant is a very pale blue-green shading to pink in the summer sun. At this time the rosette is very dry, it seems that there can not be any strength left to survive, but it will - provided nobody waters it. This aloe has adapted to no rain in summer.

Aloe comosa in habitat. The stems alone are higher than I am - add to that the rosette and the very long inflorescens. It will be a long time for my plants to grow this size but that is not a problem as they bloom before they develop a stem.
By the way - This aloe makes a fine pot plant. As long as you can keep it out of the rain in summer. The contrast of the blue-pink rosette amongst other green plants makes an attractive display. Aloe comosa can withstand light frost.

 Photo above is aloe comosa left and aloe africana right.
The blooms of  Aloe comosa tip over from pointing upwards to hanging.  Aloe comosa has a raceme more than 2x the length of the Aloe africana raceme.  Aloe africana buds hang down right at the start and then the tips of each flower bends slightly upwards. The effect is completely different racemes.

Aloe africana is another lovely aloe blooming at this time in our garden. It should bloom July - September but it seems slightly confused by our climate. The habitat of Aloe africana is from the southern to the south eastern part of South Africa. It gets summer and winter rain, but before any-one from the rainy countries get excited, no frost.

Photo  is Aloe africana and the spade is to show size. From the distance it looks like "just a typical aloe", but it is a good looking typical aloe and it has a  lovely infloroscens.

A habitat photo of Aloe africana does not show much. Everything is green and that is where this bright green aloe fits in. It is difficult to see on a photo but the whole hill is covered in Aloe africana unfortunately not in bloom at the time. Pity, but imagine it.

Below are the close-up photos of the flowers of Aloe comosa and Aloe africana. Aloe comosa has a raceme more than 2x the length of the Aloe africana raceme. The A.comosa buds point upwards then they tip over to hang pointing down in the end. Aloe africana buds tips over right at the start and then the tips of each flower bends slightly upwards. The effect is completely different racemes.