Aloe, Aloe, Aloe ……

By Rosie Peddle

Ah yes, the old jokes are the best! But early in the year aloes really are better in threes; those sometimes thorny leafed succulents whose wonderful flaming spears set the garden alight in winter. Flowers are set off by the architectural curling beauty of their leaves, which even at the height of summer and without flowers can fill a garden with interesting shapes, textures and shadows.

Aloes are of course just one variety of succulent. There are many other different varieties and some are ideal for Mediterranean gardens. Most enjoy the merciless sun of summer, need very little water, grow quite easily in our soils and they seldom look untidy or unhappy. They can be good looking in containers and large planters or as specimens or en-mass. Apart from all these advantages while their flowers are pretty, their best feature is that their leaves seem to glow in the sunlight providing continual interest throughout the year, often changing colour with the seasons.

The genus is native to Africa; species are found in southern Africa, the mountains of tropical Africa, various islands off the coast of Africa including Sardinia, Madagascar, and as far as the Arabian Peninsula. Aloes respond particularly well to arid landscapes and associate beautifully with local materials such as river gravel, natural rocks and pieces of wood. They are sturdy plants which provide a chilli red to orange and yellow colour range of flowers and can be an impressive shrubby or tree-like backdrop for other succulents or architectural plants.

Aloes are perennial and capable of living for many years, and once mature, will flower each year. If it is long term low maintenance drought tolerant planting you seek, look at Aloes for a surprising range of plants – miniature, shrubby and even tree-like. Indeed, the arid parts of South Africa are home to the largest and richest diversity of succulent plants in the world, an astonishing 4,674 plant species show some form of succulence – nearly 47 per cent of the world’s succulents grow in southern Africa.

Aloes are important plants not only for their contribution to our gardens but they have also provided an enormous storehouse of medicinal, cultural and cosmetic properties since time immemorial. The most conspicuous and well known example being Aloe vera, which it is thought originates from the Arabian Peninsula. Its healing properties were well known to many early civilisations throughout the Mediterranean basin and beyond.

Some of the most useful species for the Algarve include

Aloe arborescens - forms shrubby clumps and is tolerant of a wide range of conditions. Leaf colour varies from a deep blue-green to a light yellowish green with stiff but harmless teeth, flowers are ‘candles’ in an inverted cone shape from bright yellow to orange and bright red. Relatively fast growing it can create an effective living hedge or fence.

Aloe ferox - are stately plants, tall and single stemmed with distinctly boat shaped leaves. The flowers are long even shaped candles in a range of red shades. The thick juicy leaves are used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

Aloe striata - a short stem-less and thorn-less plant with broad soft leaves of a beautiful light blue to sea green colour with a thin pink to red marginal line. The small bright orange flowers are usually profuse and long lasting when they are grown as group.