Monday, January 17, 2011

Aloe Vera

I bought a pathetic-looking aloe vera plant with three little damaged spikes at my local home depot last summer for something like $1.49. I was excited about having this plant around for it's medicinal uses, I've never been very good about putting sunscreen on, and having an aloe vera plant around the house will keep me from having to buy a container of it every spring.

Over the winter, it has sprouted new growth and it has many fat happy spikes.  I checked the roots, and they are only using about half the depth of the container, so this plant can stay where it is for now. but I expect to either rot it or plant it in the ground in a sunny, hot spot by next year.


Also, it's starting a new little plant at it's base, when it gets a little bigger I'll be able to separate that off and have two!

Aloe Vera info:
hardy to 9B
sunset zones 8,9, 12-24
Medicinal plant used to treat burns, bites and inflammation.
1-2 feet tall, but flowers appear in a dense stalk 3ft tall
survives without extra water, but looks better with some
mulch with gravel

2 comments:

Dotty Delightful said...

wow that has come on lovely, I love getting discounted plants and nursing them back to health, last week I bought 5 pots of rosemary for 20p each!!

Anonymous said...

Nice post.Aloe Vera is a medicinal herb that is used for many purposes like skin care, medicine and preparing a large number of herbal products.