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Aloe dorotheae (Sunset Aloe) - A nicely colored low-growing aloe that suckers to form clumps of rosettes to 20 inches wide on short stems to 10 inches that lie nearly flat to the ground. The stiff shiny leaves are a greenish yellow to bright orange red color, often with some white spotting when young and with stiff spines along the margins. In mid to late winter a 1-to-2-foot tall flower spike (usually unbranched) rises above the foliage with dark flower buds that have green at the tips and open to show salmon-orange colored flowers with greenish-yellow tipped petals.
Plant in full sun to light shade (color much better in full sun) and water occasionally to very little. There are various reports on cold hardiness, but it seems that this aloe should be listed as hardy no lower than 28°F and possibly slightly higher. We have had our plants undamaged by the January 2007 cold spell at temperatures down to 25°F but these plants were under a single covering of Agryl frost cloth, which can afford the plants up to 4°F of cold protection. These same plants were not damaged unprotected at 29° F for us but Geoff Stein (Palm Bob) reported on Dave's Garden website that his plants were severely damaged by prolonged (5 hours) at around 27°F. A very attractive aloe for a rock garden or in a container.
Aloe dorotheae was originally discovered near the south bank of the Pangani River in eastern Tanzania and transferred as a live plant in 1890 to the Royal Botanic Garden in Berlin where it was described by Alwin Berger, who noted that the name honored a Miss Dorthy Westhead of London. This location has since been disturbed by the cultivation of Sisal and no aloes have since been found at this location, though it was later found in soil pockets at 2,000 to 2,500 feet at Kideliko Rock, also in the Pangani District of Tanzania. This plant is very similar to another Tanzanian species that we grow, Aloe bussei, which blooms in the summer and fall.
We first received this plant from Stockton plant collector Alice Waidhofer in 2004 and grew and sold it at our nursery from 2009 until we closed in 2025. We also had in our collection a yellow flowering form of this species that we received in 2012 from John Miller of the Institute for Aloe Studies as Aloe dorotheae (Yellow flwr) IAS12-010c.
The information displayed on this page about Aloe dorotheae is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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