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| Category: Succulent |
| Family: Aloeaceae (now Asphodeloideae) |
| Origin: Ethiopia (Africa) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Red/Purple Foliage: Yes |
| Flower Color: Orange Red |
| Bloomtime: Fall |
| Height: 1-2 feet |
| Width: 3-5 feet |
| Exposure: Full Sun |
| Summer Dry: Yes |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: 25-30° F |
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Aloe schelpei (Shelpe's Aloe) A freely-branching aloe that forms dense low clumps with open rosettes of blue-green 12-18 inch long by 4 inch wide gracefully recurved leaves with pink margins. In late fall (typically November into December here) appear 1-2 foot tall branching inflorescences topped with dense heads (cylindrical-conical) of multicolored flowers that are deep red in bud and pale orange upon opening. Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally to infrequently. Hardy to 25° F (Undamaged in our 2007 freeze at this temperature) and listed as hardy to upper 20s under tree canopies at the Ruth Bancroft Garden. This aloe comes from grasslands and steep slopes at around 7,000 feet in the Boli Gorge in the Shoa Province of Ethiopia. It was described by Gilbert Westacott Reynolds in 1961 from flowering material in cultivation and named to honor Dr. Edmund Andre (Ted) Schelpe (1924-1985) of the Bolus Herbarium at the University of Cape Town, who discovered the plant in 1952 on a steep grassland slope on a private farm across from the Mugar River (Blue Nile) in the Boli Gorge. Our plants from Brian Kemble of the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek who sent us a cutting off of his plant in 2004.
This information about Aloe schelpei 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.
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