There is something nice and not so nice in all seasons.
Our winters are wet, but mild with brightly colored
wild flowers.
Welcome! new visitors to our blog. We are at home
in the south western province of South Africa.
Winter is in the middle of the year. Aloes recover
their full splendor very quickly once the rain starts.

This is Aloe rubroviolaceae (Yemen)
dry and shrivelled hanging on to life.

Photo above was taken in March 2009

Photo below was taken in June 2009.

The brick is there to give an idea of the size.

What a difference the rain makes!

Why not water the aloes year round?
We have water restrictions but that is not
 the main reason - aloes must have their
natural dry cycle. Aloes that are watered
and grow in shade tend to become soft.

Insects, snails, fungus and bacteria 

will quickly find a spot to break the 

skin and damage - if not kill- the plant. 

 The leaves grow long and sloppy and

the flower stalk grows further apart 

which does not show off the flowers 

so well.   Note in the background.

It is very difficult to see I happen to

 know it is there. The flower buds of

Aloe sabaea.  Very faint to the right 

of the Aloe rubroviolaceae racemes

Another gem from Yemen. 

I will show it another time.

Our winter garden for the year 2007 .
The winter garden in bloom with aloes and an enchanting lily endemic to South Africa.

It is a wet winter this year with few sunny days. The disadvantage is that the pollen is wet and pollination is difficult. We had so many new hybrid aloe seeds in mind, but that is life... sigh. The aloes that bloom in winter are from the summer rainfall area where there will be no problem with pollination in winter. Most South African aloes ( 90%+ ) are from the summer rainfall - which is logical as only the western cape has winter rainfall.

I exchanged some lily bulbs and these two lilies were first to bloom. Lovely!!

I am not a botanist - if you have not noticed.
Anybody know what lilies these might be? Clue - they are endemic to South Africa.
Most lilies are so quick to bloom and disappear, but it is exciting to find the blooms
every year, if only they would remain a little longer.

Indoor succulent plant gardens
Aloes succulents and fat plants grow easy indoors in pots or containers. Good drainage and strong light is all that they need. Here are two indoor gardens. A succulent indoor garden in a flat container with mainly fat plants from South Africa and a desert garden in a bowl with succulents and aloes from Namibia. The soil mix contains dolomite gravel, coarse sand and soil. A very weak plant food is given every 6 months with a sprinkling of a few Magnesium sulphate crystal between the plants. (A quarter teaspoon at the most.)

click on the photo to enlarge. The succulent plants in this indoor garden from South Africa. The white plant at the back is a Cotyledon, next row from the left is Aloe davyana, Aloe hybrid in the center and to the right back. Front row from the left is Euphorbia mammilaris. Gasteria species, Gasteria x Aloe hybrid and a group of Aloe brevifolia plants. The ground cover is two Crassula sp. The container is watered thoroughly and then permitted to dry out.

click on the photo to enlarge. This is a desert garden with plants from Namibia. The back row left to right:- mesemb, Tylecodon species, Aloe variegata, Euphorbia gariepina. Front left to right:- mesemb, Cotyledon species, the small plants are Euphorbia juttae, Aloe melanacantha and the small plant to the right of Aloe melanacantha is Anacampseros buderiana. This garden receives only enough rain water to damp the soil. It is then permitted to dry out. It may be necessary to merge the bowl in rain water once a year to rinse out salts or better would be to replace the growing medium with a fresh mix.
For more information and tips see cultivating succulent plants in pots and containers

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.