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Little Aloe World: Discover Dwarf Aloes

Dense and colorful, Aloe juvenna (foreground) makes a great rockery subject or potted specimen.

While we ogle big fancy aloes blooming in frost-free gardens, their sensitivity to cold winters limits their cultivation elsewhere. The plants in the same genus as Aloe vera, the popular Arabian species used for skin care, rarely survive the winters of sub-tropical zones. For everyone who cannot grow succulents outdoors year round, like we do in coastal California, welcome to my little aloe world.

South African Beauties

A grass aloe (center front) will fill a pot quickly for lots of easy offsets to divide and transplant.

The aloes of southern Africa include some very small species that produce the most exquisite bell-shaped blossoms. They have always reminded me of a lady’s drop earrings because they droop from very thin wiry stems. Even the slightest breeze will send their blooms nodding and swaying. Like the big aloes, they bloom every spring, attracting hummingbirds to porch or patio, and light up a home and sun porch with early spring color.

Most garden aloes hail from the maritime Cape Floristic Region or the east coast of South Africa on the Indian Ocean. These are soft, beautiful, and adaptable. The further inland you go, the larger and stiffer and pricklier the aloe species become, so that big game cannot browse upon them during drought. In the wide, treeless, grasslands of the African veldt the little grass aloes blend into big patches among the grasses.

Collecting Aloes

Most of the tiniest aloes have been collected at the Huntington Desert Garden to view.

I began to learn about little aloes by collecting all that I could find, whether named or not. I purchased small ones from succulent racks (without labels), then tested each in my desert garden. I also started new plants from fallen pieces of rare grass aloes gleaned from working at the botanical garden in Palm Springs. Still, more offsets (also unidentified) were shared from friends’ mature aloes. I had a stone slab front entry walk edged with these tiny aloes, potted and in-ground, which provided the jewel box garden I had dreamed of creating.

Planting Aloes

Grass aloes, which are native to African grasslands, produce delicate bell-shaped flowers.

For beginners, aloes are among the easiest succulents to start with because they aren’t finicky. Plant them in Black Gold Cactus Mix to make sure they have supreme drainage. Choose deeper pots for big aloes, because their roots are a lot like a daylily’s, thick and deep. Blend cactus mix with equal amounts of Black Gold All Purpose Potting Soil at a 50-50 ratio to boost fertility and blooming.

It’s easy to know when your potted aloe needs water during the growing season. It should be fully turgid, which means its cells are full of water. Squeeze one, and it should be firm. When they run short of water the cells loose turgidity, stems soften, lose color, and small wrinkles appear on the skin.

Hand water your ground aloes sparingly as many become summer dormant after blooming. Bottom water your little pots by setting them in a pan of water. Allow them to wick up moisture for over an hour’s time, then drain and return them to their place. This will ensure their soil is fully saturated, while keeping water away from your potted aloes’ crowns, where rot begins.

Aloe Sources

Aloe brevifolia offers orange flower stalks that hummers just love.

A great selection of little aloes is available at the California succulent nursery, Mountain Crest Gardens. Quality photos, accurate labeling, and excellent cultural information is offered for each plant. And, they will send aloes right to your door, if they aren’t available locally. Everybody can enjoy little aloes no matter where they live!

Once you have your aloes, know that they will produce offsets or “pups”. This is how they reproduce in very dry climates. To keep a single tidy rosette, remove the offsets that will otherwise spread and change the shape of the overall plant as it ages. When dividing little aloes, it helps to remove them from the pot to surgically sever offsets (maintain stems or roots for better rooting). Root the offsets in a well-drained nursery pot of moistened Black Gold Cactus Mix and keep transplants in the shade until roots form. Then plant them in small pots, so they can grow through the fall before you protect them from frost.

While there are some hardier aloes, they are few and far between outside tropical and sub-tropical zones. If you live in prime time locations, grow them outside. Where there’s light frost, try pots on the patio. And in cold, rainy, totally unsuitable climates, create your own indoor collection for just $5 per plant and enjoy them year-round.

Bold Waterwise Container Plantings

Do you need a big accent container plant for the patio or garden that asks for little water? In California, designs resulting from water cutbacks are changing the way we look at potted plants. Now they are a bigger part of the landscape, nestled in the planting or set at crucial spots to please the eye. These are valuable problem-solvers for filling in spots where older plants have died. They also help to make gateways, and other focal points interesting in small spaces.

Trendy southern California water-wise gardens show you how it’s done. Bold, water-wise plantings from top gardens have been hand-picked to show great design with these plants. Note how simple and dramatic each can be in the right setting, and how little care they require. So be inspired to create your own by these four stellar examples.

The Huntington Containers

Earthy green pots planted with single Cape rushes bring needed height to the garden. (Photo by Maureen Gilmer)

Southern California’s botanical garden, library, and art center, The Huntington, shows off some of the best planting ideas for the region. Their new California Garden features pots of fine-textured reeds to define each tier of the gradual grade change. Nestled among in-ground plants, it has earthy green pots planted with single Cape rushes (Condropetalum tectorum). They provide stellar vertical elements in an otherwise low-lying planting scheme. The South African reeds are grown in summer gardens or frost-free regions to provide the dark green fine-textured appearance rare among droughty plants.

Palm Springs Container

Cascading variegated elephant bush thrives in drought and looks spectacular in pots. (Photo by Maureen Gilmer)

In Palm Springs the newest darling of succulent pots is the variegated elephant bush (Portulacaria afra ‘Variegata’). It’s a green succulent variant featuring cream-colored variegation. This gives it a light value against darker pots or backgrounds. Variegation causes this variety to be smaller, less sun resistant, and more pendulous. It’s become a favorite for nesting exotic-looking Agave.

Balboa Park Container

A simple purple wandering Jew adds bold color to a tall pot. (Photo by Maureen Gilmer)

In San Diego’s Balboa Park was a discovery for using an old-fashioned, purple, inch-plant (Tradescantia pallida ‘Purpurea’) is planted as both a house plant and an outdoor summer annual. Fast-growing, tolerant of extreme heat with a lush purple coloring and small pink flowers, this is a new trend for shaded areas of droughty gardens. Widely available at garden centers, the foliage is outstanding in this very tall turquoise pot. Over the summer the long purple tendrils will cascade down the pot edges for a delightfully Art Nouveau feel. Where there’s frost, dig and move them indoors for winter house plants.

California Home Container

A minimalist blue-on-blue pot brings cool elegance to an apartment patio. (Photo by Maureen Gilmer)

For apartment dwellers, another container find along the California coast resulted in an all-blue creation. Blue chalk sticks (Senecio serpens), a lovely cool-hued succulent, makes the perfect companion for this blue Delft-style pot. True blues are rare in the drought-resistant garden, but with the cobalt glaze as an anchor, this blue plant is all you need for eye-popping beauty.

Every one of these containers can be created in a day for instant upgrades to outdoor spaces and for lighting subjects.

Planting Waterwise Containers

To maximize water retention, use Black Gold Waterhold Potting Mix for planting a rush pot provided the container is very well-drained. This reduces watering frequency and leaves moisture deeper down for the reeds. When planting succulents, including the purple Tradescantia, variegated Portulacaria, and blue chalk sticks, use Black Gold Cactus Mix to ensure adequate drainage. For very deep pots, don’t hesitate to keep your plant in a nursery pot and drop it inside the bigger one for quick seasonal changes.

Hot pots can be made any time because they’re not dependent on flowers. Instead, they are beautiful and useful on day one for that party, gathering, or special event. Above all, they ask for little water while flourishing through the heat of the summer happy as clams.

Pots of fine-textured Cape rushes define each tier of The Huntington’s California Garden. (Image care of The Huntington)