Garden Aloes

Aloe comptonii

Category: Small to Medium Clumping Aloes

USDA Hardiness Zones: 9a - 11

Overview

Aloe comptonii is one of the larger creeping aloe species from S. Africa. This species is a moderately-sized (the largest of the species), compact, South African aloe known for its growth habit of spreading along the ground via horizontal, sprawling stems, sometimes retaining a lot of leaves giving the rosettes a curious stacked look.

Description

Aloe comptonii is nice looking very turquoise plant, but crawls all over the place leaving a long, sort of messy looking stem in it's wake. This Aloe forms a rosette of blue-green leaves that get to be about 20” wide. Aloe comptonii leaves are up to 300mm in length, narrow and triangular in shape, small sharp white teeth are present on leaf-margins. Leaves are thick and vary from deep green to pinkish brown depending upon sunlight and water exposure. As the plant gets older it will develop a creeping stem about 3’ long that gives the plant a very lazy, laid back appearance as it trails along the ground.

Flowering

The inflorescences of Aloe comptonii are branched into multiple racemes that usually number from three to eight. The flower head is compact & has a spiky, fireworks burst look to it as the individual flowers develop. Flowers are red in color, thin in shape and pendulous. Flowers are highly ornamental, colored orbs of spikes that look like an anemone or sea urchin. Blooms in late Spring or early Summer.

Origin / History

Native to South Africa. Aloe comptonii was named after the second director of the National botanical gardens of South Africa, Professor R.H. Compton. Aloe comptonii has a large distribution area, from Montague in the Western Cape to Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape.

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Care / Cultivation

Frost Tenderness

It seems to be fairly cold tolerant, not showing any obvious damage when we had a frost down to 25F.

Use in the Garden

The attractive turquoise foliage and the spreading habit of Aloe comptonii make it an interesting choice for a ground cover.

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Learn More

The information on this page about Aloe comptonii has been gathered and summarized from the sources below. Visit these pages to learn more.

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