Garden-worthy Aloes

 Aloes come in an astonishing variety of sizes and shapes. They can be trees or small groundcovers, and everything in between. There are over 600 species of Aloes and Aloe-related species (Kew) originating from Africa, Madagascar, and 14 from the Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, and a few from islands in the Indian Ocean. This article will concentrate on some of the smaller, more garden-worthy Aloes for San Diego. 

Aloe striata                                                                                         Sharon Reeve

Many Aloes offset and get bigger over time. Coral Aloe or Aloe striata is a uniquely beautiful single Aloe that gets chunkier with each passing year. The spineless basal rosette is only about a foot high, but the flat-topped floral cluster reaches up another foot. Thick bluish-aqua leaves radiate from the center and have a coral-colored edge that matches the flowers. A subspecies has faint white lines running up the leaves that show in bright light. While this is an attractive sculptural plant when planted alone, it also is very attractive planted in a group or band in front of a solid-colored dark-foliaged plant to show off its sculptural qualities and flashy flowers. Front it with an even bluer Senecio for a pleasing combination. Full sun and infrequent water suit it best. This clean plant requires no maintenance, save the removal of old flowering stems. This plant will tolerate slight freezes only. Aloe striata blooms in winter for about a month.

Aloe x 'Moon Glow'                                                                                                                          Sharon Reeve

This garden Aloe is the product of a breeding effort by Leo Thamm. The parentage of Aloe x 'Moonglow' is unknown, but the combination of bluish foliage and abundant soft yellow flowers with orange centers is stunningly beautiful and very satisfying. After, many years the plant will offset to a medium-large size of 3-4 feet high and 4 feet wide. You can control the size by pruning after bloom. When it does bloom, it is the star of the garden and an obvious focal point. The soft-colored flowers coordinate well with pastels and white, grey, and silver-foliaged plants, like Kalanchoe bracteata or Dasilyrion wheeleri. Hummingbirds love Aloes, and this is no exception. Once again, full sun and infrequent water are what this plant wants. This is also a long winter bloomer. This is a tough plant that insists on well-draining soil and temperatures above freezing.  

Aloe cameronii                                                                                                                                 Sharon Reeve

Aloe cameronii is much better behaved than the similar, but larger, Aloe arborescens. In the photo above, the plant is 7-8 years old and has expanded to four feet wide and three feet high. This is considered a slow-growing Aloe. Cherry-red flowers are numerous and in proportion with the smaller-scale foliage. In cooler months, the foliage turns a deep forest green, but heat and drought can turn the foliage bronzy orange. Regular water will keep the foliage green. Combine it with Aeonium 'Kiwi' to bring out the red of the flowers. This deep green foliage works well with all kinds of smaller colorful succulents. Rosettes of foliage cut from the base propagate easily. This is one of my favorite plants for creating gardens. Colorful winter blooms can repeat during the year. Even when not in bloom the neat dense basal foliage is refreshing and healthy. This plant needs well-drained soil and full sun. Aloe cameronii can withstand slight freezes. While this plant does not have spines, the leaves are edged with teeth that might lead you to be a little careful.

Aloe 'Blue Elf'                                                                                                                                   Sharon Reeve

If spreading Aloe is more to your liking, this hybrid Aloe 'Blue Elf' may work for you. The narrow upright bluish-green foliage, with hints of orange and red, forms a dense ground cover that is around a foot tall. Plant this on 8-inch centers and in a couple of years you will have a continuous patch of Aloe 'Blue Elf'. In the middle of winter, it sends up one-foot-high slim red-orange spires of flowers.  Hummingbirds regularly come by and sample them all in a systematic fashion. This plant likes well-drained soil and is tolerant of regular water, but can get by on less. In the photo above this vigorous plant is filling a pot. The flowers open from long bloom stalks and open from the bottom up, and bloom for several weeks. The spent flower pedicels give a polka-dot effect to the stalk. This plant is tolerant of hot open exposures but intolerant of salt spray at ocean locations. Remove spent flower stalks after blooming. This plant combines well with low grasses and other succulents. Upright narrow foliage provides a different texture to almost any plant. Be sure to not crowd this plant and allow it to shine alone or in combination.

Aloe x 'Safari Rose'                                                                                                                 Sharon Reeve

Aloe x 'Safari Rose' is another breeding win for garden-worthy Aloes. This small-statured offsetting Aloe comes to us from Alan Wet's breeding program in South Africa. The foliage of this plant reminds me of Aloe x 'Blue Elf' with bigger soft rose flowers grading into white ends. The clump is a foot tall but spreads slowly and increases in height as the plant offsets. Even though it offsets it stays small. The flowers are large in proportion to the foliage. It blooms heavily in the winter and repeats bloom throughout the year. Combine this with a silver-foliaged herb like Teucrium marum or a low-blooming plant like Kalanchoe manginii. The cherry bells and burgundy foliage of this Kalanchoe go well with this Aloe. Blue Senecio serpens, coppery Sedum adolphi, red-rimmed Crassula arborescens, and tri-colored Aeonium 'Sunburst" all look good next to this plant. With these soft rose flowers, there are so many possibilities! Infrequent water and well-draining soil are needed to grow this well. This Aloe is part of the Safari series from Ball Horticulture includes a bi-colored orange and pink-flowered Aloe called 'Safari Sunrise'. There are also 'Safari Sunrise' and 'Safari Orange'.  All excellent garden Aloes.

I love these garden Aloes for their low maintenance, drought tolerance, effortless attractiveness, and months of flowers. They don't need fertilization, but a layer of mulch is always helpful. Hummingbirds appreciate the frequent and abundant flowers. Try them in your garden and you will love them too. 

 

Succulents as Low Maintenance Shrubs

When you picture a succulent garden you might be like me and see in your mind's eye many colorful tiny plants in a precious arrangement, but have you ever thought of succulents as shrubs in a low-maintenance and drought-tolerant garden? Many succulents have a neat and tidy domed habit that suits a low-water garden well. These mid-size succulents can perform the role of shrubs with much less water and maintenance. Be sure to have well-drained soil and full sun for these plants. Some of them can tolerate some shade but the colors will not be as intense.

Unlike shrubs, these neatly growing plants rarely are boring green, and come in many interesting colors and shapes. One of the basic tenets of good garden design is a variety of textures, sizes, and colors. Succulents don't rely on flowers to provide interest, they do that all year long with their foliage. You don't ever have to apologize to garden visitors that, "they should have been there last week because the plants were blooming" because the interest is the year-long texture and color of the foliage. With these plants, you can have a beautiful garden 12 months a year.

Additionally, they are easy to prune should they get larger than you want. Cuttings quickly and easily make new plants somewhere else in your garden. For example, cut the head off an Aeonium and stick it in the soil, and soon you will have another shrub- succulent. Here are a few of my favorites.

Aeonium 'Jack Catlin' with Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold'          David Feix

Several Aeoniums make great succulent shrubs. The rosettes don't collapse in the summer heat like Aeonium arboreum and quickly make an organized dome of heads. In this case, Aeonium 'Jack Caitlin' is a small succulent shrub around two feet tall and wide with gorgeous wine and spring green rosettes. It is a hybrid of A. arboreum 'Zwartkopf' and A. tabuliforme made by John Catlin at Huntington Gardens. This succulent does best in full sun where the colors intensify. Repeat this succulent shrub in several places in your border to create continuity in your color scheme. This is a tough plant that will get by on very little water, even in full sun. Plant with chartreuse plants to pick up the fresh green center. One good pairing is with Sedum x adolphii. This is a low-growing yellow succulent, that varies from chartreuse to golden with orange tips. A. 'Jack Caitlin can tolerate light frosts.

Aeonium 'Sunburst'                                                                                             David Feix

One of my favorite plants, this plant has easy care and color in spades. You would think looking at it that it is a delicate fussy plant, but it is a robust fast grower just looking for an excuse to show off in your garden. Once again, full sun and well-drained soil are required for best results. Skirt this succulent shrub with Senecio serpens for a pleasing combination. The blue of the Senecio serpens picks up the bluish green of the Aeonium. The coral pink stripe of the rosette is more evident in full sun and heat. Interplant with Echeveria 'Mauna Loa' to echo the coral edge of the Aeonium's rosettes. Any coppery succulent will work. You can also use shorter dark red Phormium cookianum. These rosettes are bigger and can get close to a foot across. The rosettes root easily. Even when not watered they will hang out until there is some water to start growing. Aeoniums have a drawback in that stems will die back after bloom, but there are always plenty of rosettes to replace the plant stem that died. 

Crassula arborescens                                                                                         

Many of the Crassula arborescens selections are great succulent shrubs. This one is Crassula 'Bluebird'. The foliage is a nice medium green paddle with a bluish cast and a red edge leaf edge. It quickly makes a rounded shrub, and like the shrubby Aeoniums, starts easily from pieces of branches. The foliage is chunkier than the well-known jade plant. Other forms of Crassula arborescens have silver foliage, or undulating smaller foliage. Any forms are easy plants for drought tolerant shrub forms in a succulent garden. They are slightly frost tolerant. This plant reaches 2-3 feet tall and wider. To keep it smaller trim off slightly smaller than desired and it will fill back in. 

    Aloe camperi                                                                                  Geoff Stein

There are so many forms of Aloe from groundcovers up to trees. There is a small group of shrub-sized Aloes that offer different textures and foliage colors in the garden border, plus blooms that last a month or more. The Aloe pictured is a species called Aloe camperi. This plant blooms in spring and grows about one foot high and three feet wide. If orange Aloe foliage is desired, plant Aloe dorotheae or Aloe cameronii. These shrubby Aloes have foliage that turns red with heat and drought. This is good to know in Zone 23 Sunset where summers can be challenging for landscape plants. These mid-size Aloes are great as you can have one blooming almost all year with careful selection. They clump and spread to create a small mass that is weed-free and lovely. Another good dense spring bloomer is Aloe 'Moon Glow' with yellow-tipped blooms and bluish foliage. Match this up with blue Senecio serpens and Crassula 'Sunset' to echo the colors.

Kalanchoe bracteata    

If you are nuts about white, silver, and blue foliage, like I am, you can find these colors in so many succulents. Kalanchoe bracteata has blazingly white fuzzy foliage. It is absolutely one of the easiest plants to grow. Succulents often have fuzzy white or silver foliage to deal with heat and drought. Fuzzy white leaves keep the full intensity of the sun from reaching the leaves and cool the leaf surface, plus they slow dehydration. Kalanchoe bracteata grows to about two feet tall and wide.  It blooms in muted red and the blooms are visited by hummingbirds. White foliage matches everything and can be happily sited in full sun next to almost any plant. I like to group white or silver foliage together. This plant looks good with another drought tolerant plant called Teucrium marum with silver foliage and purple flowers. Both are easy and drought tolerant. Teucrium marum is a long-blooming plant favored by bees.
Hopefully, this article got you thinking about using succulents as shrubs in the garden. Succulents are better than thirsty shrubs because they are drought tolerant and grow densely to choke out weeds. Using medium size succulents this way adds interest to the garden with color and texture, and is a smart choice to reduce maintenance and watering. With a little planning, you can easily make a satisfying garden composition and you can stand by while compliments come your way.