Buy Aloe tomentosa

Aloe tomentosa is an unusual and attractive plant native to the mountains of Yemen. It features a stemless, solitary rosette of pale green leaves up to 2 feet tall and 4 feet wide. The plant produces tall, multi-branched flower spikes with pyramidal clusters of wool-covered, sea-green blooms in summer, attracting hummingbirds and bees. Easy to grow and maintain, it is a water-wise plant ideal for arid and semi-arid regions. This hardy species is frost-tolerant down to mid 20s° F and is a great addition to gardens, rock gardens, and as a container plant.

These plants are currently being sold as "plugs" since they were only recently planted in 4in nursery pots. You will receive a similar plant to the ones pictured here.

Light Shade. Outdoor. unique Chartreuse Flowers covered in thick wool.

Aloes are widely distributed through Africa, as well as the Arabian peninsula and islands in the Indian Ocean (notably Madagascar). There are several hundred species altogether, but only a small number of these have flowers which are hairy, and all of these are found near the Red Sea. One of these is Aloe tomentosa, which comes from Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The name “tomentosa”, which means “covered with wooly hairs”, refers to this feature. Aloe tomentosa is a stemless plant, with large, fleshy green leaves which taper to a point. It typically has a single head, though occasional specimens with two or more heads may be encountered. The tubular flowers are produced in summer, mostly in July and August, in bunches at the ends of the many branches on the flower-stalk. The flower color is white, often with some green. The dense covering of wooly white hair gives them a most unusual appearance. Plants are fairly good-sized, attaining a diameter of a meter or more (3 to 4 feet), but without a stem or offshoots they are not so large as to overwhelm an average-size garden. They are not difficult to grow if provided with good drainage, and they can withstand freezes if these are not too severe or prolonged. Plants at the Ruth Bancroft Garden survived temperatures down to about 20º F (-6 or -7º C).

Those of us who love rare plants have met our match with this special weirdo. Woolly, sea-green flowers are borne on 3' branching stems over the large (2-3') rosettes of succulent leaves. If HAIRY, GREEN FLOWERS aren't special enough to tickle a plant geek's thirst for the odd, they may be beyond our help. Drought tolerant & hardy into the 20's, it needs a well drained soil in a dry site to succeed, as heavy Winter wet could negatively affect its ability to thrive. Aloe tomentosa typically has leaves that are very smooth, & uniformly green, with toothed edges, but some seedlings in this batch have some nice mottling & stripes. There could be some interesting hybrid forms in the mix! From Yemen.