(Mostly) Summer Blooming Aloes For Bloom Day July 2016

Above:  Orange flowers of Aloe 'Cynthia Gitty' with golden flowers of Aloe megalacantha

 Aloe megalacantha and Aloe 'Cynthia Gitty' have been reliable summer bloomers.  Last summer they produced no flowers.  This year, they have. 

I made changes to get their summer flowers again, moving their sprinkler in from the concrete curb and changing the sprinkler out for a taller one, so the spray waters both 'Cynthia' and the megalacantha behind it, instead of the single 'Cynthia Gitty' rosette growing directly in front of the sprinkler.    
Working on irrigation is worthwhile misery.  We're all happier.
While I photographed, a hummingbird coming in for nectar nearly collided with me.  He landed on Agave marmorata and glared until I retreated.

The garden is home to only a few summer blooming Aloes--hybrids like 'Cynthia Gitty', x Noblis, and 'Roikoppe' that repeat frequently--though there are some species that bloom in summer.  The garden's copies of Aloe dhurafensis, A. tomentosa, and A. reitzii, summer bloomers all, are not yet large enough to flower.

Slow growing A. reitzii, recently planted where it can (finally) get sufficient summer water, looks excellent (finally).  It's taken eight years to get this big (12").  My bad.  It wanted for summer water.
 I'm trying to imagine how old the UCI Botanic Garden's A. reitzii is.  Wowza!
Aloe reitzii photo uci5917.jpg
Here is one of the Huntington's, blooming July 2015:
 

  Aloe x noblis, may be a cross of either mitriformis and brevifolia, or distans and brevifolia.  (Mitriformis and distans may be the same species.  Or not.) 


 The garden began with one variegated x Noblis rosette.  Now there are several, both variegated and plain green.  Green rosettes have produced variegated rosettes as well as green.  The flowers are the same.
 Sweet flowers for summer, striking plant the year round. 
Aloe 'Roikoppe' blooms off and on, mostly on.  
 Aloe vera, the most commonly grown Aloe, is a spring and summer bloomer, but I don't have it--it seemed so...common.  Nice yellow flowers in summer, though.  Maybe I need it after all.  Here's one of the Huntington's, from last weekend.
 Beyond Aloes this July,  Rhombophyllum nellii's once-a-year, penny-sized flowers should be noted:
As well as the reliably July show from the red, broccoli-like flowers of Crassula perfoliata var falcata var minor, still recovering from a move, but already healthier in some shade and with a little more water: 
Another member of Crassulaceae, Echeveria subridgida.
While I was admiring E. subridgida, the same hummer buzzed me again, perching on another Agave to evil-eye me again.
 

Lobelia 'Queen Victoria', open at last! 
Do we have time for a rose?  This is leap year for 'Munstead Wood'
In closing, glorious Dahlia 'Cafe au Lait' yet again.  This is your  moment, darling.  Flaunt it!
Thanks again to May Dreams for a wonderful meme!

Comments

  1. Beautiful selection! If only our winters are mild enough to grow so many aloes outside...

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    1. But you can grow A. polyphylla, which is near on impossible here--so what more you do need?

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  2. I am surprised at the fact Echeveria subridgida stole the show for me. All those lovely Aloe blooms and yet I kept returning to look at the Echeveria. Excellent photo!

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    1. Thank you. Having killed it twice, this time I took pains to try to get it in the right spot, and might have got it right this time. It's a particularly beautiful species.

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  3. Maybe the hummer just wants to be near you! After all, you are the caretaker of all those beautiful blooms he so enjoys. With the exception of Crassula pubescens ssp radicans, I have only a smattering of succulent blooms but my miserly irrigation strategy may be at fault.

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    1. I bumped up the watering just a little this year, only saving 50% instead of 58-68% like last year, but I think that's enough. Several of the trees were in serious trouble after HeatPocalypse, had to water.

      You still have so many flowers and your garden looks great, so you must be doing things right!

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  4. Good job on keeping reitzii happy. Love that upturned rosette. Still waiting for blooms on my Roikoppe, but they're young plants. I was thinking we must be in a rose lull, between flushes, but there's Munstead Wood. Nice namesake for Ms. Jekyll. I bet she'd grow it too.

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    1. 'Munstead Wood' may turn out to be the best red Austin. It's very promising.

      'Roikoppe' took a while to get going here. Watch for gall mite, because it seems very prone to it.

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