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Aloe 'Birds and Bees' – A large shrubby succulent that grows to 6 feet tall or more by as wide with rosettes of 18 inch long thick gray-green recurved leaves, but can be trimmed up to make a single stemmed small tree-like plant. In mid-winter appear the stout few-branching inflorescence with tight terminal spikes of dark orange buds that open yellow from the bottom of the spike up.
Plant in full sun to light shade. Based on its suspected parentage, this plant should prove to be both drought tolerant and hardy to moderate cold – we have only tested it to 27° F, but likely it can go at least a few degrees colder. A sensational looking aloe that is attractive as a large branching shrub or trimmed up like a small tree aloe.
Aloe 'Birds and Bees' is a selection made at our nursery from seedlings that were grown from open pollinated seed provided to us in March 2007 by Brian Kemble of the Ruth Bancroft Botanic Garden. The seed parent of this hybrid was Aloe arborescens and its pollen parent is speculated to be Aloe thraskii. From the original seed that germinated we selected and evaluated 5 seedlings and chose this one for its attractive bicolored flowers, naming it 'Birds and Bees' in reference to its open pollination when we began to sell it in 2013. We also selected a second seedling that has darker reddish buds and red flowers that we named Aloe 'Red Bird'.
This information about Aloe 'Birds and Bees' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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