It sounds more like an agave than an aloe vera, although aloe vera could be tough on a small child. Agave is definitely not good to have around a little one. You could use hibiscus, and there are a multitude to choose from. This is 'Moy Grande', and it is fantastic! A small aloe vera is always good to have around tho. The leaves are full of a jelly like pulp that is great for doctoring kids scrapes and cuts and especially burns. Janie

The first is Aloe vera v. chinensis. (blooms orange) The 2nd (although that looks like more spots than usual) which is much larger, thicker leaves & yellow blooms, is Aloe vera/barbadensis. I believe it has been reclassified with the latter name, but most people are still calling it by the former (vera), so one or the other is listed as a synonym. See link below for a pic of an Aloe vera/barbadensis ~Rosemarie, who hangs out on the C&S forum, but pops over here on occasion =) Here is a link that might be useful:

I'm in HOuston, so anything I say about wintering aloes may not sound relevant. However, I 'started' farming aloes while in Dallas and then 8 years in Tyler, due east of Dallas. This was when my aloe herd got to be over 300 plants, when I stopped counting. I found some plastic "trim" strips at Home Depot that are 8 feet long, about 1/4" x 1/2" and very flexible, for about a $ each. I bend them over my aloe bed and poke in the ground then tent over them with a plastic sheet. I anchor the edges of the sheet with old boards and bricks. I try to seal the edges as best I can, but the biggest concern is for the wind ripping it off. I usually only put the tent on them when the forecast is for less than 33degrees overnight lows, but if the forecast is for 34 to 36 for a week I might tent them just because the forecast can be unreliable. Since doing labor in cool/cold weather is painful, I often leave the tent on too long. When I take it off I usually find at least one of them is flowering. Here is a link that might be useful: my aloe ranch

Okay, I understand. I'm going to keep these two in pretty small pots until they have more roots established. I don't mean tiny pots- just like medium sized I would say. And I will add some small rocks to the top in order to stabilize the plants. Today I unpotted both of my aloes to see how much damage there could be and if any, it would allow me to remove the damage and let them callus over before repotting this weekend or so. The roots of the smaller aloe look pretty good to me- there is plenty of new growth (including new baby roots and additional growth on the longer, older ones). This was the aloe with the two leaves on the bottom that turned yellow and shriveled up- which I was told was normal and the plant was just shedding the older leaves. These leaves were easily removed from the base with gentle pulling. Just wondering if you guys agree with me and the roots look good and this one can be planted as normal in the new gritty soil. Two pictures of the smaller aloe: Next, was the bigger aloe which I wasn't happy with. As can be expected, it's roots did suffer. So I trimmed off the dying roots and was left with barely anything. But I was happy to see it has one new root growing! So there is something left there (: My question with this one is should I remove the dark part of old stem that is under the baby root? I don't know if this is rotten or not, it's soft and dark but not mushy or smelly. I'm thinking I should remove it because it's not doing any good but will that much trauma to the plant cause more suffering? Bigger aloe: One more thing, I read about putting cinnamon on any cuts or damage upon transplanting in order to prevent infection. Should this be done immediately or after the plant has had some time to callus? Thanks in advance for any help (: