ALOE. South Africa to Yemen and Madagascar. This is a huge genus of dramatic trees, shrubs and more or less herbaceous perennials of the lily family (or its own family, in the eyes of some botanists). They are much better known and grown in southern California than here. Whatever their form overall, they have distinctive crowns of tapered, usually rather narrow, succulent leaves with mostly toothed margins. From the axils of the leaves rise branched or simple stalks bearing clusters of tubular, six-parted and often highly colored flowers. Flower colors range from deep red through orange and pink to bright or pale yellow.

These are bold garden plants whose uses will depend largely on their size, both vertical and horizontal. Some are specimen trees and shrubs, others are effective border plants, and still others are small to large-scale ground covers. Many are also excellent long-term container specimens. Most delight in a sunny spot, though they will tolerate light shade, and can be grown in most reasonably well drained soils. Most are drought-tolerant, though their tolerance of ordinary garden watering varies widely. Tenderness to cold is their main limiting factor in northern and central California; we are cautiously trying some of the hardier sorts and hope to have a few more soon.

‘Johnson’s Hybrid’. This is an unusual perennial, making broad, dense mats with short stems and tapered bright green 6-8” leaves. It flowers almost continuously, producing a succession of 8-12" stems tipped by thick clusters of 3/4" blossoms. The flowers have bright orange tubes and pale yellow inner petals, marked with green at the tips. This is an unusual and colorful ground cover for mild areas. We have yet to probe its ultimate hardiness, though it has thus far taken close to 20^oF. with only minor damage.

striatula. This was presented to me as one of the “hardy” aloes by Brian Kemble, at the Bancroft Garden. It is a rather widely branched shrub, growing about 6’ high, with attractive greyish bark. It has curved, narrow bright green leaves with tiny whitish teeth. In summer it carries dense clusters of 1" flowers, elevated above the foliage on 1’ stems. Flower color is generally reddish orange, but lemon yellow in this unnamed selection. It has been unaffected here by temperatures close to 20^oF. and is reputed to be hardy to somewhere in the ‘teens.