Aloe 'Yemeni Orange' (Orange Yemen Bush Aloe) - A medium sized clump forming aloe with stems rising to 2 to 3 feet tall holding open rosettes of 3-foot-long narrow medium green leaves that slightly recurve and twist with large green teeth along the margins. In mid spring appear the well branched stems that rise above the foliage in all directions with orange buds that open to display huge tangerine orange flowers – quite unusual!
Plant in full sun in a well-drained. Our plants have not been through an extremely cold year, so we only know that this plant is hardy to around 30° F but based on its parentage it should prove a bit cold hardier than this.
This unusual plant in an open pollinated hybrid that was selected at our nursery from plants grown from seed taken from a Aloe sabaea, that was growing at Aloes in Wonderland, the Santa Barbara garden of cycad specialist Jeff Chemnick. It had many other aloes growing around it so we can only speculate what the pollen parent could be. Several other seedlings were also selected for evaluation but this one with abundant flowers is had the largest and darkest flowers. The first seedling that we selected we named Yemini Gold' and it has slightly smaller leaves that are less twisted with large panicles of golden yellow flowers. The parent species, Aloe sabaea, is a small tree aloe with orange flowers that grows in Yemen and it was for this reason we decided to name these plants as we did. We also selected another plant that we only have planted in the garden that appears to be a cross involving Aloe harlana with spotted leaves and large red flowers that we call 'Yemini Red', but this 'Yemeni Orange' has the largest flowers of the group.
The information about Aloe 'Yemeni Orange' displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include 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 we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |