The fourth month of the year is upon us and everywhere the first signs of early winter flowers are showing in the plants. In fact the new year started with some nice colour from a large, out-of-season inflorescence from ‘Ruby Blaze’ that drew a lot of attention from white-bellied and amethyst sunbirds, as well as the expected regular flowers from ‘Fireworx’, ‘Toffee Apple’ and ‘Ivory Dawn’. Both ‘Curvacious’ and ‘Eland’ start their extended flower period very early in the new year, while the striking, eye level yellow of ‘First Gold’ complements the deep colours of the tall 'Totem' flowers. You can see pictures and descriptions of these plants on the website www.sunbirdaloes.co.za .
The smaller hybrid cultivars have also been delivering their share of colour for some months, notably 'Rocky', ‘Starfish’, ‘Campari’
and ‘Baby Bicolor’. Of late ‘Geisha’, ‘Oribi Gorge’, ‘Princess’, ‘Sunrise’, ‘Topaz’
and ‘Bush Baby Yellow’ have also joined the riot of colour. Both ‘Fairy Pink’ and ‘Pink Pastel’
are already showing colour and will be in full, spectacular flight in the very near future. As far as the smaller aloes are concerned, undoubtedly the biggest news item of the year is the impending release of ‘Cupid’, one of the smallest but longest flowering of all the aloe cultivars.
If you have not seen these spectacular aloes in flower, or would like to introduce a friend or family member to their explosion of winter colour, you can visit Mara Petersen’s nursery in Cato Ridge, KZN, on any of her open days (see below). In the Western Cape, Jaap Viljoen and his wife Annatjie will welcome you to their Rooiklip Nursery in Swellendam, where June and July promise the spectacle of hundreds of aloes in full flower. If you are in the Eastern Cape, you will want to see what Sue Burden has been up to on their farm near East London. Her nursery will be filled with stunning flowers throughout the winter months. Please be sure to check with her before you drive out to the farm. The show of aloe flowers will be nothing short of breath-taking during the Sunbird Aloes Home Nursery open day and sale (see below). For more information about our growers visit our website
www.sunbirdaloes.co.za