Plant in full sun to light shade. Best in cooler coastal climates where it requires little or only occasional irrigation. This plant is drought tolerant and fire-retardant and frost hardy to the low 20's° F.

This taxon is native to near Uniondale and Willowmore in the Cape Province of South Africa where is grows on open rocky ground. It is the most robust and slowest growing of the plant varieties or subspecies once included with Aloe perfoliata, A. distans or A. mitriformis. A bit like the more typical plant usually called Aloe distans in cultivation in that it sprawls horizontal over open ground but Aloe comptonii is much slower growing with larger rosettes of greener leaves and darker redder flowers.

It is included with Aloe perfoliata by some but we note many sources continue to list this plant as its own species Like Aloe distans, Aloe comptonii is sometimes included as a subspecies of Aloe mitriformis or more recently all are lumped into Aloe perfoliata. This confusion of names is discussed in the great reference book Aloe: The Definitive Guide, with it being listed as Aloe comptonii but within the listing of Aloe mitriformis and with the authors expressing some reservations about it being included with Aloe perfoliata. The specific epithet honors Professor R.H. Compton, the Director of the National Botanic Garden Kirstenbosch in 1950 when Gilbert Westacott Reynolds described it as a species in Aloes of South Africa. 

The information about Aloe comptonii displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include 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 we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant.