|
Aloe arenicola (Sand Aloe) A clumping plant with 3 to 4 feet long stems lying flat to the ground or clambering up with support and holding bearing short triangular spotted gray leaves. As the plant matures and only within the last foot of the stem it produces more upright rosettes bearing 7 inch long blue-green narrow leaves that are white spotted on both surfaces and have white teeth along the margins. With stress the leaves take a red-orange hue and in summer appear the multi-branched racemes with the pale orange-red flowers densely arranged in terminal clusters.
Plant in full sun in a very well-drained soil and water infrequently, particularly in summer months as this aloe is prone to rot if overwatered. Has proven hardy to at least 25°F during our January 2007 freeze and likely would take it a bit colder. This unique tough aloe remains decorative in a small juvenile stage with snaking horizontal stems bearing small well-spaced triangular leaves until such time it matures and begins to grow upright with larger leaves.
Sand Aloe comes from coastal sandy plains along the west coast of the Northern Cape of South African within the arid winter-rainfall Namaqualand, ranging from Lamberts Bay in the south north to the Orange River mouth at the Namibian border. It belongs in a group called the Creeping Aloes that include Aloe distans and Aloe comptonii, now combined with Aloe mitriformis, as well as the more shrubby and upright Aloe pearsonii and the pendulous cliff-dwelling Aloe meyeri. The specific epithet comes from the Latin words 'arena' meaning "sand" and 'cola' meaning "inhabiting" in reference to this aloe's natural habit on sand dunes. Other common names include the Afrikaans names Bont-Ot'korrie and Sand-Aalwyn (Sand Aloe). We thank John Goetz of San Simeon Nursery for first giving us this gem of a plant in 2005 and we built up enough stock to begin selling it in 2014.
The information displayed on this page about Aloe arenicola is based on the research we have conducted about it in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.
|
