Aloe suprafoliata

Also known as the Moustache Aloe for its interesting distichous (stacked) leaf rosette. Grows fairly large, and eventually grows out of the stacked shape into a nice, graceful rosette. Wonderful blue color with lime green teeth. Light to bright red flowers with dark purple tones. What a beauty! Native to Swaziland.

Winter is a great time of the year for aloes, with many species coming into flower. Among these winter bloomers is Aloe suprafoliata, a stemless or short-stemmed species from the northeastern part of South Africa, and also neighboring Swaziland. This plant has tapering succulent leaves up to 16 inches long (40 cm), armed with small teeth along the edges. In less intense sunlight the leaves are blue-green, but in bright conditions they become a milky blue-gray color. In the dry winter conditions prevailing in its native habitat, this species is often tinted reddish-brown on the outside of the rosette, but this coloration is seldom seen in plants cultivated in California. Plants are normally single. The inflorescence of Aloe suprafoliata is not branched, but plants can produce up to six or more stalks from one rosette, rising to a height of 3 feet (1 m) or a little more. Even before the flowers open they are attractive, with cylindrical pinkish-red buds tipped in slate gray or purplish gray. The buds are upward-pointing, but as the flowers mature they pivot downward, then pointing back up again as they pass maturity, so that the seed pods are held erectly. The flowers are slender and quite long, about 2 inches (5 cm). The peak flowering months for the species in California are December and January (May to July in its native South Africa). Aloe suprafoliata is not a difficult plant to grow if given a sunny position and good drainage. Even though in habitat it has dry winters, it will tolerate our winter rains, and it can take freezes down to the mid-twenties or lower without injury.

If I could marry an Aloe, suprafoliata would be "the one". It has everything you could possible want in an Aloe. Beautiful, chalky sea-green distichous (book-like) leaves in its younger years that age in to a lovely spiral rosette. You can even keep it in its juvenile state for quite some time by keeping it in a pot & never fertilizing it, but then you'd miss out on the exquisite, 2' long crimsony flowers that often appear in multiples every Winter. Native to the KwaZulu-Natal region in South Africa where Summer rains occur, excellent drainage & a sunny spot are key to keeping Aloe suprafoliata happy during our wet Winters. Stays a relatively compact 2' tall & wide.???