About 12 months ago I was asked to visit an open garden featuring Aloes.
My first thoughts were “seriously, you want me to go and look at a garden full of aloe veras and succulents!” I found it very hard to go with an open mind.
The day arrived and quite simply my mind was blown.
As I walked down the drive, colour and flowers burst from every space. Birds sang, bees buzzed and nature did a happy dance.
A few times I had to shake my head and remind myself I was in an aloe garden not a beautiful cottage garden.
Forget all that you know about aloe. For me that wasn’t hard as all I knew was the ugly looking aloe vera.
Now imagine a beautiful structural plant. Imagine a plant that is able to withstand the harsh Australian climate by storing water and food within swollen leaves and roots. Imagine a plant whose flowers can last weeks as well as being bird attracting. Imagine a plant that is not only easy to grow but resistant to disease and pests.
Imagine the beautiful new range of aloes named Aloe-Aloe!
These amazing plants are native to South Africa so they are used to harsh climatic conditions. It was not just the hardiness of the aloe-aloes that intrigued me and left me wanting more. It was their huge display of flowers with their differing colours, red, white, yellow, pink and all the colours in between. I think the only colour I couldn’t find was blue!
Some plants and flowers were tiny, only reaching 20cm high. Others reached meters into the sky. Click here for a quick reference chart on flowering times and heights of Aloe-Aloes.
The versatility of this plant is excellent. On its own in a pot it makes a fantastic feature. Planted out in a garden or pot amongst other flowering shrubs it also looked great. The garden I saw was mainly aloe-aloes but there were other shrubs intermingled amongst it and the garden looked amazing. Depending on where I looked and the other plants used, some areas of the display garden looked like a cottage garden, others were tropical and lush and some formal. The Aloe-Aloes worked in all genres.
How could you not want a range of plants in your garden that can flower from February to November. Grow well in a full sun position but can handle a little shade. They would rather have dry feet than wet.
We used a good quality potting mix when planting ours and fertilized with Organic Link and Triple Boost.
I honestly think these amazing plants would suit any garden. I am a true converted lover of Aloe-Aloe. Next time I am asked to go look at an Aloe garden I’ll be jumping up and down and packing my camera.