Forum rules
This section is dedicated toward maintaining one active thread for each Aloaceae species/subspecies/variety/cultivar. Please feel free to add information and/or photos to existing threads or start your own by adding Genus/species as the thread subject. Note that listings are displayed alphabetically. Enjoy!
Aloe elegans LA arb.jpg (153.44 KiB) Viewed 3818 times
Aloe elegans seedlings.jpg (144.72 KiB) Viewed 3818 times
Aloe elegans early flower 11-08.JPG (145.82 KiB) Viewed 3818 times
Aloe elegans 12-11.jpg (163.6 KiB) Viewed 3818 times
Aloe elegans end of flowering cycle 1-07.jpg (153.58 KiB) Viewed 3818 times
Aloe elegans even more mature flowers 12-06.jpg (126.19 KiB) Viewed 3818 times
Aloe elegans flowering nice early Dec 07.jpg (138.26 KiB) Viewed 3818 times
Aloe elegans flash flowrs 12-10.jpg (83.64 KiB) Viewed 3818 times
Aloe elegans near end flweoring 1-12.jpg (74.59 KiB) Viewed 3818 times
Aloe elegans flowers from overhead 2-13.jpg (76.64 KiB) Viewed 3818 times
Aloe elegans flower again 12-10.jpg (62.19 KiB) Viewed 3818 times
Aloe elegans flower close up 11-08.jpg (58.48 KiB) Viewed 3818 times
This is a rather 'ordinary' looking aloe from Ethiopia (central African aloes tend to be a bit nondescript) with nice yellow, orange or red flowers (or a bit of all three) in winter. My plant was a wonderful flowerer, reliably starting every early winter and never missed a year. The plants I see at the botanical gardens seem to be a bit more 'hit or miss' on the flowering events. IT is a solitary species, stemless for the most part, with unspotted or minimally spotted, upright leaves of pale green, blue green or tan. The largest plants I have seen were about 2' tall.
I have had Aloe Elegans in the ground for over 5 years and it has not flowered once. It is planted in full sun in a crushed rock front yard garden and gets mostly rainwater with occasional hand watering in dry times. I amended its surrounding soil with MiracleGro cactus, palm, and citrus garden soil and earthworm castings last year hoping it would change things. The plant has always looked very healthy and puts out clumps aggressively. I have taken its offspring clumps and planted elsewhere hoping those do better and flower. Does anyone have any tips for me?