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Products > Aloe 'Brown Betty'
 
Aloe 'Brown Betty'
   
Image of Aloe 'Brown Betty'
[2nd Image]
Habit and Cultural Information
Category: Succulent
Family: Aloeaceae (now Asphodeloideae)
Origin: Madagascar
Evergreen: Yes
Red/Purple Foliage: Yes
Variegated Foliage: Yes
Flower Color: Salmon
Bloomtime: Spring/Fall
Parentage: (A. 'KG# 5' x A. 'Aumakua Mano')
Height: <1 foot
Width: 1-2 feet
Exposure: Cool Sun/Light Shade
Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs
Winter Hardiness: 25-30° F
Aloe 'Brown Betty' - A smaller aloe growing to about a foot high with 6- to 8-inch-wide rosettes on short vertical stems with leaves that in winter are beautiful reddish-brown splashed with cream spots and having pinkish teeth along the margins. In spring through fall the spots on the leaves remain but the background color turns a nice mid-green and through this period is also when the delicate solitary or few branched inflorescences rise up 12 to 18 inches bearing whitish yellow buds striped with green that mature to flowers that are almon orange with green petal tips.

Plant in full sun to light shade in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally to infrequently. Hardiness is not well known on this relatively new hybrid, but it has tolerated short duration temperatures around 30 °F for us and likely it should prove to be a bit hardier.

This hybrid was created was by Karen Zimmerman, Succulent Plant Propagator at the Huntington Botanical Gardens, who made the selection from hybrid seedlings that resulted in a cross between Kelly Griffin’s Aloe 'KG# 5' with Nathan Wong’s 'Aumakua Mano' and is a sibling seedling of another of Karen's hybrids called Aloe 'Gargoyle'. This plant was initiated in the garden's micropropagation laboratory (tissued culture) and the resulting plants introduced in 2013 through the Huntington's International Succulent Introduction program as ISI 2013 Aloe 'Brown Betty'. Our plants were propagated from a single plant purchased from Karen Zimmerman when she spoke about her aloe breeding programs to the Santa Barbara Cactus and Succulent Society in May 2015 and we have sold this plant since 2022. 

Information displayed on this page about Aloe 'Brown Betty' 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.

 
San Marcos Growers closed for regular business at the end of 2025 as the property is being developed for affordable housing.
While our gates remain closed, we will open them by appointment so we can liquidate remaining plants, supplies and equipment. The plants remaining in the field are listed on our Live Inventory Page.
 
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