Aloe vaombe
 

This is from high to low areas of western Madagascar. In the local language "vao" = "aloe" and "be" = "big."

It gets summer water in habitat plus a dry winter, with occasional deluges from a passing cyclone at any time of year. The leaves are not damaged until temperatures drop to the mid 20s F / -4C and my plant did not die when it got to the upper teens F / -8C overnight. Developing inflorescences are killed much below freezing.

I bought this in a 3.5" / 9cm pot and put it into the ground in 1999. It tried to bloom the first time during the winter of 2006-2007, but the January 2007 big freeze prevented that, and killed almost all the leaves. Since then I have covered it when a significant freeze threatens.

For scale, look carefully at the base of the plant, and you will see a bottle of wine.

The Agave inflorescence arching out of the picture immediately to the right is A. gypsophila, and the bushy spike is an A. filifera hybrid.

Wow, that's huge!

I had no idea aloes got so tall!!

Guess what... well, you have to wait until tomorrow when the sun is shining.

2017 Blooming
 

Here it is. We haven't had any frost this winter so I didn't need to cover the emerging inflorescences.

Attachment 124935

Aloe vaombe

Due to the sun and time of day, I am standing 90 degrees west of where I stood when taking the photo earlier in this thread. The mesquite trunk visible behind and to the right of the Aloe in the earlier photo is now off the right side of this photo.

I set a red, standard 3.25" / 8.25cm square nursery pot on one of the leaves for scale. Do you see it? The bottom leaves are at the top of my head, and I'm 5'11" / 180cm tall. I'm reaching as far as I can toward the flowers.

Attachment 124936

Aloe vaombe

Attachment 124932

Aloe vaombe

The following hybrid came from a Tucson nurseryman, Miles Anderson of Miles' To Go. Mom was Aloe vaombe, and dad unknown. Notice how red the flowers are in my big Aloe vaombe; this hybrid has some yellow-orange near the flower tips, and the base is more inflated than usual on vaombe. You can see the same red pot in front of this hybrid's low 5-gallon / 19 liter container.

Attachment 124937

Aloe vaombe hybrid

Attachment 124938

Aloe vaombe hybrid

In the background of the hybrid:
Large spiky rosette - Yucca faxoniana / carnerosana depending on who you ask, west Texas
Thin-leafed spiky rosettes behind hybrid - Dyckia Pink Ice
White-leafed shrub - Encelia farinosa, brittlebush, incienso, Sonoran Desert native shrub
Columnar cactus in pot in background - Pilosocereus alensis, almost an Arizona native (Sonora, MX)

Nice to see a desert garden. Very beautiful way to scape with your plant selection. Looks to protect your soil and its water content.

High temps in summer and very low temps in winter a huge challenge.

Last weekend I was looking at things outside and noticed buds are just emerging. It was a very difficult photo to take. I was on my tip toes on a large rock, holding my phone at full arm extension, trying to keep the phone in the shadow of the mesquite limb west of the Aloe. You can see mesquite leaf litter and fallen seed pods on the tops of the Aloe leaves. I can't reach to clean there.

Today I noticed another inflorescence emerging from a leaf above this one that is not visible in the photo.

I think I'm going to plan in advance and make a 3-sided tripod out of PVC irrigation tubing, so when cold threatens I can drape frost cloth over it and put an incandescent light bulb underneath for heat. I have been buying and hoarding incandescent light bulbs so I have enough to use under frost cloth in the future. It will have to be at least 15 feet / 4.6 meters tall. I will just slip the pieces together rather than glue them, and I can slip them apart for storage in the shed.

Hah! My first thought was "How does wine treat scale???"

After a few glasses you won't see any scale, but it comes back the next day.