What You Need to Know About the Aloe Plant – Aloeaceae

Aloes are native to the Mediterranean, West Indies, and South America. A. vera is often used in cosmetic and medical preparations: juice applied from a snapped-off leaf can help relieve the pain of a burn. It grows as a rosette of gray-green succulent leaves, usual!} tinged red, sometimes spotted. The edges leaf edges are pale pink and too Ted. The flower spike grows to 5 ft. (90 cm) and the tubular yellow flowers are 1 ¼ in. (3 cm) long. A. arborescens is similar, with red flowers, arid has a variegated form.

Size: Height 2 ft. (60 cm)

Light: Direct sun.

Temperature: Normal room.

Moisture: Water plentifully from spring to fall, sparingly in winter.

Feeding: Give full strength liquid fer­tilizer every two weeks from spring until fall.

Propagation: Detach suckers with a knife close to the parent plant when they start to open into a rosette shape.

Special needs: Mealybugs Lend to hide in the folds of the rosette.