Aloe brevifolia (Not Aloe Vera)

A chunky little South African Aloe with long lasting red flowers in early summer. It has pretensions to being hardy (keep it dry and it’ll take quite low temperatures) but is probably best out for the summer and in for the winter. An easy house/conservatory plant for a light spot. They only grow to about 6″.

Many years ago we were asked by The Body Shop in Littlehampton to supply them with Aloe vera plants for sale in their Visitors Centre that we were much involved with. We had masses sent from a nursery in Denmark. Trouble is they weren’t Aloe vera, they were these. We rather liked them (much prettier than Aloe vera) and have done them ever since. That would have been in 1992. Aloe vera is famous for its curative properties (the sap from the leaves relieves the pain on burnt skin for example) but there’s a strong suspicion that the curative powers of Aloe vera are shared by all the Aloes.

Propagated by us from division.

Hardiness level Red

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IF IT HAS A RED TRAFFIC LIGHT

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Hardy in Atlantic Seaboard gardens, The Channel Islands, gardens in Central London (and other large cities) and conservatories.

This is only meant as a guide; there are some plants with red labels that would only survive in extremely favoured spots such as The Isles of Scilly or coastal south-west Ireland.

We're always on hand to give advice about plants and their frost hardiness.

Please remember that these coloured labels are only a rough guide.

General Point about Plant Hardiness: The commonly held belief that it's better to 'plant small' is perfectly true with herbaceous plants, but not necessarily true with woody plants. They need some 'wood' on them to survive severe cold - so plants of marginal hardiness in very cold areas should really be planted LARGER, rather than smaller, wherever possible.