Aloe
Aloe species. LILIACEAE.
Planting and Growing Aloe
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow aloe in the accompanying Planting and Care Guide table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of aloe
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for aloe
- Season of bloom and planting time for aloe
- When, how deep, and where to plant aloe
- How to plant aloe
- Watering, fertilizing, care and pests or diseases of aloe
- Landscape and container uses of aloe
- Comments about aloe and its features
With species-specific recommendations from the Planting and Care Guide table in hand, next visit the Planting Trees and Shrubs section to find details and demonstrations on how to plant and provide for early care needs.
Also visit the Caring for Trees and Shrubs section for facts and demonstrations on upkeep, pruning, and fertilizing your plant.
Growing Aloe
Between 200 and 250 species of long-lived succulent perennials, shrubs, trees, 6–144 in. (15–360 cm) tall. Powdery, blue green, gray green, long, tapering, fleshy leaves, some armed with sharp, spiny edges, in mostly stemless rosettes, some climbing and branchlike.
Among the many cultivated species are candelabra aloe, Aloe arborescens; torch plant, Aloe aristata; jewelled aloe, Aloe distans; and golden-toothed aloe, Aloe nobilis.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Many cream, orange, red, yellow, tubular flowers, 1–8 in. (25–200 mm) long, on tall, branching spikes, to 6 ft. (1.8 m) long, intermittently in spring–autumn, only in warm-summer climates.
Best Climates
Tender. Zones 9–10.
Soil Type and Fertility
Dry, well-drained, sandy soil. Fertility: Average. 7.0–8.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Spring in full sun, 1–10 ft. (30–305 cm) apart, depending on species.
Proper Care
Easy. Water deeply during growth; reduce or withhold water during dormancy. Protect from frost. Propagate by cuttings, offsets, suckers.
About This Plant
Good choice for accents, containers, edgings, rocky slopes in arid, rock gardens. Medicinal aloe, Aloe vera, is a source of topical skin-irritation salves. Pest and disease resistant.