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Aloe 'Delta Lights' - A stunning brightly-variegated plant that grows to 18 inches tall by about 2 feet wide with leaves that are 3 inches wide at the base and taper gently towards the tips. They are dark green in color but so heavily marked with a pale greenish-cream color, that the leaf looks to be all this color with zigzagging green horizontal bands. Mature plants blooms over a long period with dark reddish orange flowers rising on a delicately branched inflorescence from fall through spring.
We are still trying to get a feel for how best to grow this plant and while we have it in full sun in our nursery think that full morning sun might be the best in hotter inland gardens to bring out the great color but not burn the leaves. The species is pretty tough, tolerating full coastal sun and with only occasional irrigation when planted in a well-draining soil and is hardy to around 25° F. It suffers in overly wet winters, so soil drainage seems to be a key factor in keeping it good looking. It should prove to be a great plant for containers or in the ground in the garden.
Aloe 'Delta Lights' is an Aloe deltoideodonta hybrid created by Kelly Griffin when he was at Rancho Soledad Nursery that was first released in 2011. The cultivar name is a reference to the parent plant, Aloe deltoideodonta, which comes from southern central Madagascar. We sold this attractive cultivar from 2011 until 2022 and would have continued to grow it but the cool wet 2022-2023 winter was so hard on this crop that we discontinued growing it - too bad as we always liked this plant when it looked good. The image on this page courtesy of Rancho Tissue Technologies.
Information displayed on this page about Aloe 'Delta Lights' is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will 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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