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Aloe cheranganiensis (Cherangani Hills Aloe) - A relatively fast-growing shrub aloe to 3 to 4 feet tall that branches from the base to form a solid mass with rosettes of 2 foot long narrow pale to mid-green colored slightly recurving leaves with lighter colored teeth. In mid fall appear the 2- to 3-foot-tall branching inflorescences with red flower buds held tight in conical racemes that open to salmon-orange colored flowers.
Plant in full sun to light shade and irrigate occasionally to infrequently. Cold hardy to 25 °F. This aloe is quite attractive to hummingbirds and makes a great landscape plant with a clean mass of nice foliage and very nice fall flowers.
The specific epithet come from the location or the type locality in the Cherangani Hills in the western highlands of Kenya where Kew botanists Susan Carter and Peter Brandham first found it. It is part of a group of related central African tetraploid aloes that includes Aloe kedongensis, Aloe dawei, Aloe elgonica, Aloe ngobitensis and Aloe nyeriensis. Our plants grown from plants received from the Institute of Aloe Studies (IAS) that were originally grown from seed collected in 1995 at Ortum, Kenya.
This information about Aloe cheranganiensis 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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