Garden Aloes

Aloe reitzii

Also Known As: Reitz's Aloe

Category: Single Head Stemless Aloes

USDA Hardiness Zones: 9b - 11

Overview

Aloe reitzii is a rather rare species of stemless Aloe which is summer blooming and endemic to South Africa’s grassland area of Mpumalanga. This beautiful robust stemless plant usually has a single rosette 3 feet tall. This aloe produces handsome cylindrical racemes of dark red to orange-red flowers and has long relatively broad silvery blue-green leaves with reddish teeth along the margins.

Description

Aloe reitzii forms a nice, single, silvery blue-green rosette to 3 feet tall & wide with reddish-brown teeth along the leaf margins. The leaves are quite thick, long, and broad being up to 4 inches wide at the base and tapering to a point. Leaf surfaces are smooth except for a line of thorns that appear near the tip of the lower leaf surface. The Aloe reitzii leaf margins are armed with sharp reddish-brown teeth that are 3mm long. Plants are definitely full sun species and fairly slow growing, taking 5-10 years to mature to flowering size. Can often be confused with Aloe gerstneri and Aloe petricola.

Flowering

In the summer the spectacular inflorescence branches near its base with each stem becoming a vertical spike rising well above the foliage. Young plants may produce only one raceme but older plants can produce multiple racemes, further enhancing a spectacular sight. It is unusual because of its downturned flowers and because it blooms in summer, while most other Aloes are winter blooming. This summer flowering habit makes it a useful subject for cold gardens where the flowers of other aloes often get frosted off in the cold winter months. Long dense racemes of flowers are a showy pinky-red opening to yellow. Curved flowers are long, narrow and tubular in shape, up to 50mm in length, dark red but gradually turning yellow in color.

Origin / History

This plant has a restricted distribution in a very small area on rocky slopes in the grasslands near the Belfast district of Mpumalanga in northern KwaZulu-Natal. This aloe is endemic to this area and occurs nowhere else in the world. There is also a winter-blooming form of this plant called Aloe reitzii var. vernalis that comes from The Vryheid District to the north. Plant named in 1943 to honor Francis William Reitz, then the South African Minister of Agriculture.

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Care / Cultivation

Reitz' aloe is not difficult to cultivate and makes a handsome addition to any garden. It tolerates both frost and fire in its natural habitat, and is easily propagated from seed although the seed is often in short supply. Fresh seed should be sown in spring on a well-drained seedling medium, lightly covered and treated with a fungicide. Seedlings will emerge after two to four weeks and can be transplanted at the age of six months into individual containers ensuring good drainage and full sun conditions. Seed grown plants may take five to seven years from sowing to flower.

Frost Tenderness

Aloe reitzii is a relatively cold hardy species. Acccording to Brian Kemble this plant has proven hardy in cultivation at the Ruth Bancroft Garden down to 20F.

Use in the Garden

A great plant for the dry garden or as a container specimen though seed grown plants can take up to 7 years to mature and begin blooming. One of the few spectacular colors in the early autumn aloe garden.

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

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