Aloe 'Jacob's Ladder' (Yellow Dawe Hybrid Aloe) - A clump-forming nearly stemless shrub aloe that can form a clump to about 3 feet tall and wide with upright 2-foot-wide rosettes holding bright green leaves that can blush reddish in winter when stressed. In mid-winter, rising about 2 feet above the leaves, appear the bright orange-yellow buds and flowers that are well spaced along the branching raceme and held horizontally, looking like rungs of a ladder.
Plant in a well-drained soil in full sun to light shade in the desert and water occasionally to infrequently. Cold hardy down to at least 25° F - undamaged here at those temperatures in 2007. This plant was an International Succulent Introduction in 2003 (ISI 2003-170) of a plant that had for many years been growing at the Huntington Botanic Garden (HBG 29892) as a yellow form of the eastern and central African (Uganda, Congo, Rwanda) Aloe dawei, but was later determined to likely be a hybrid of that species. The name was inspired by the arrangement of the buds in reference Jacob's dream, as described in the Bible, where he saw angels ascending and descending a ladder to heaven. The Huntington Botanic Garden in their description of this plant noted "the plant is particularly beautiful after a winter storm when each flower bud holds a drop of rainwater at its tip. Colorful buds give way to pendent flowers that extend the display over much of southern California's winter."
We have grown this great aloe since 2013 from plants received from the Huntington Botanical Gardens. There is an exceptional large planting of this aloe surrounding the commercial building across Patterson Ave from the Goleta Cottage Hospital near our nursery. For more information about the one suspected parent of this plant, see our listing for Aloe dawei.
This information about Aloe 'Jacob's Ladder' 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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