Saturday, August 2, 2008

Aloe ciliaris,a climbing Aloe

Aloe ciliaris, a climbing Aloe
This climber from South Africa should be more widely grown in light of its low water requirements and tolerance of shade.The flowers occur throughout the year and are quite distinctive yellow tipped and bright orange-red. In its native habitat it grows in dense scrub and climbs through surrounding bushes sometimes to a height of 6 metres. Like any climber it needs to be trained on a support when young to give best results. This is not something I admit to having done but left to its on devices it has managed to grow up the side of a shed and flower well. It is not thorny ,the species name ciliaris refers to the soft hairs around the leaf sheaths.Tip pruning can be done to keep it as a shrub.
2017 update: I have limited stock available for sale.

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