Hi Jools, Those seeds I started 3 weeks ago are doing pretty well. I took 10 seeds, gave them (2) cycles of freeze/thaw, then chipped them as I described earlier. Of the 10 seeds, 2 germinated within 72 hours, and by day 10 there was a total of 7 germinated. Maybe the others were duds, or maybe they weren't chipped right. Who knows? In answer to your question, I use a gritty mix for the seedlings too, and planted the germinated seeds 1/4" deep, including extra perlite to cover the seeds to help retain moisture, in a terra cotta community pot. A total of 6 finally made it (pictured). I put a maximum of 5 seedlings in a pot. In a few days these will go individually into 4" pots, and after a couple weeks of recovery, I'll start acclimating them to outdoors. From here on, I'll overpot, just to save time. Community pot==> 4" pot==> 8" pot==> ?? When my larger seedlings (4" -- 8") first went outdoors, I was more than a little concerned bc all the plants developed tiny brownish freckles, which I thought was either fungal or bacterial, and I was all set to treat these when they spontaneously cleared up, with no damage to the leaves. So far, the temperature here has stayed below 85ðF, and I have each terra cotta pot sitting in a dish which serves as a water reservoir, with that whole setup sitting in a larger container to shade the clay pot from direct sun. Remember, if the roots hit 85ð, the plant is toast. So far, this setup creates evaporative cooling, and I'm pretty compulsive about checking the pot temps, especially on the warmer days. I don't have a good spot to plunge these in the ground. As long as there's water in the dish, the unglazed pot will provide root cooling, and the plant can have its full sun. If the local temperature ever gets too high though, I won't hesitate to put the plants in the basement for a few days. I hope this helps. These are methods that seem to work so far for me, but I'm still experimenting.... Rick in coastal Connecticut

This is my all time favorite Aloe. If I could have only one in my collection, this would be it. My plant is old, about 25 years old. Over time it grows taller. Mine never bloomed. Notice I show a photograph of a view looking down. Just this year some of the lower leaves were removed in hopes that the procedure just might induce pups to form. I saw this done in the collection of someone whose skills as a grower,I admire. I have fingers crossed. Al

Wait a minute, I don't believe one can prune an Aloe (that's only one stem). Rather, one just cuts the top off w/ a couple of leaves of stem & re-roots it (by setting it in DRY mix to encourage new roots & not watering until one sees new growth).

This is maybe a form of Aloe jucunda... though twice the size of all the others.. but too small to be Aloe hemmingii... any thoughts? Aloe lineata Aloe meyeri... these hang off cliff faces in the wild, but I have no cliffs in my yard... so grows like a normal aloe for me Aloe monotropa is 'falling' out of pot... perhaps this is a cliff face hanger in the wild, too? One of my favorite tree aloes- Aloe munchii Aloe ngongensis... flowered already 3x this year.. .not a member of the winter-flowering-group Aloe pillansii.. .recovered after bout of 'too much water in summer' this last summer... all leaves sagged and was very unhappy looking... but recovering now, and now it does want to be rained on Until this plant, I have not been able to keep Aloe polyphylla alive... but got this one high off the ground in a shady spot and it has done well for three years now... very afraid to move it! Aloe powysiorum... split in two last year... outgrowin location, too Aloe rubroviolacea flower coming along this week... another great, reliable species Aloe shadensis... slow Aloe speciosa just moved to spot along street (no more room anywhere else) Aloe succotrina... another plant my mysterious neighbor has decided to hack leaves off of, presumably for the purpose of using the juices for medicinal reasons.. .this particular species produces a brilliant lime green juice that quickly turns a dark purple... wonder if it's safe... Aloe tenuoir... always seems to be flowering (at least whenever it's cool) Aloe troroana about to have a mature flower Aloe vryheidensis just showing a flower bud, and, unfortunately, sticking out into the sidewalk (will have to remove that sucker soon) Aloe barberae and vaombe... the latter which should start showing flower spikes, too, soon