Plant in full to part sun in a very well-drained soil. It is drought tolerant once established and over watering should be avoided as this can induce root rotting, particularly if overly wet in winter months. It is fairly cold hardy succulent plant, tolerating temperatures down to 15-20° F (some claim as low as 0° F). Can be grown as a houseplant if given very bright light and is a very nice plant outdoors in containers or in the succulent and rock garden; is particularly happy in a crevice type planting where winter moisture will be rapidly shed. Its flowers are attractive to people as well as to bees and hummingbirds. It was winner of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit in 1994.

Aloe aristata grows naturally from desert lowland areas up to higher elevation grasslands and mountain slopes from the Karoo region of the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa east through the Free State into Lesotho. The name Aloe comes from ancient Greek name aloe that was derived from the Arabian word 'alloch' that was used to describe the plant or its juice that was used as medicine. The specific epithet is Latin meaning "bristly" or "having an awn" in reference to the awn-like white teeth along the leaf margin. Other common names include Guinea-fowl Aloe and Torch plant. The indigenous Basotho people of Lesotho called it called it "serelei" in their Sesotho language, which means "slippery one" and the Mpondo (AKA Pondo) people from the Eastern province of South Africa used it as a soap. Though long considered to be an Aloe species, in 2014 it was reclassified as a monotypic species (only species in the genus) in the new genus Aristaloe as it is was determined to be more closely related to the Aloe relatives Astroloba and Tulista (previously placed in Haworthia) than to other Aloes. So not to confuse our staff and our customers we have left it listed as an Aloe until the name Aristaloe aristata gets better recognized. 

The information displayed on this page about Aloe aristata 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.