Plant in full sun and irrigate occasionally to infrequently – is a drought tolerant plant and cold hardy to 22-25 F. This is a great midsized landscape aloe but unfortunately seems quite attractive to aloe mite.

Aloe x spinosissima is an old hybrid whose origins seems lost in time. It has long been in cultivation in California as evidenced by its listing in the 1930 publication Cacti and other Succulents: An Annotated List of Plants Cultivated in Santa Barbara that was written by Ralph Hoffman, E.O. Orpet, Eric Walther and James West and edited by Pearl Chase. In this book it is listed as a hybrid between the toothy form of Aloe humilis known as var. echinata and A. arborescens var. pachythyrsa, but both varieties have now been synonymized with their associated species. It is sometimes sold as Aloe arborescens 'Dwarf'. The name is the superlative form of 'spinosus', which means spiny so would mean "very spiny" or "superlatively spiny". We have grown this aloe since 1999 but find it on species we need to monitor continuously for aloe mites and we only continued to grow it because its attractiveness and the advent of treatment protocols for this pest. 

This information about Aloe x spinosissima displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.