Kristin Law, a long-time friend on Facebook, sent me a message. Kristin specializes in landscape design and maintenance and owns “Law of Nature Garden Design.” Although we had never met in person, I was familiar with her through her numerous posts and comments on Facebook, as well as our many mutual friends. Her message included photos of three blooming aloes that needed removal from a private front garden where she was redesigning the landscape. They had outgrown the space.
Given that these were mature tree aloes that have been bloom annually for years, I thought we might be able to relocate them. However, my garden is quite full, steep, and has limited sunlight and access, so something would likely need to be moved or removed to make room for them.
They didn’t appear too large in the photos, but Kristin suggested I see them in person, as she described them as larger than they seemed in pictures. So, my gardening assistant, Justin, and I went to see them. Since I was recovering from reverse shoulder replacement surgery, I was restricted from lifting anything over 2 pounds with my left arm, making me unable to assist in relocating them, so Justin would be doing almost all of the work in relocating them.
As warned, they were larger than anticipated, but we decided to try moving them. But first, I consulted the Facebook tree aloe group for advice on the best way to relocate them. There were many helpful suggestions and ideas. However, I should have provided more details about the site, as several people assumed I had a crew of workers and heavy equipment for planting, which wasn’t the case since we can’t even use a wheelbarrow on our steep hillside.
From the advice received, I learned that we should cut off 1/2 to 1/3 of the lower leaves to make them easier to move and accommodate a smaller root ball. We should leave the leaf stubs on the trunk, as they will likely fall off later, and removing them now risks damaging the trunk and causing infection. We should aim for the largest root ball possible. They should be planted at the same depth they are currently growing and stakes or large rocks around the trunk should be used to hold them in place until they reroot. Watering should be withheld for awhile while to prevent rot from entering the cut roots. I also decided to give them a root drench of PhosGuard to lower the changes of root rot.
The next task was finding suitable locations for them. I walked through the garden several times looking for spots with enough sun to enable them to bloom, about 5 feet of open space, that was somewhat accessible without requiring a long uphill carry. I showed Justin the potential spots, and we decided on these three:
On the side yard by the house, there is a set of mostly maintenance steps. I had planted a large potted pink Euphorbia milli there, but it never thrived and would scratch or snag you if you weren’t careful. We had often discussed removing it. Behind it, a volunteer Tagetes lemmonii (Mexican Marigold) had grown quite large. It bloomed in the fall but didn’t add much to the garden for most of the year. This is where we planned to plant the one resembling the candelabra form of A. ferox.
Justin wasn’t sure he could fit all three in his trunk at once, which turned out to be true. The smaller of the the aloes we estimated weighed around 100 pounds. The larger one was closer to 150 or 200.
The aloe barely fit through the side gate. A steal stake was placed in the bed above the aloe and a cord tied from it and around the trunk to keep it from tumbling downhill. So far so good.
The next aloe was a bit more difficult to find a place for. However, back in Sept we had cut out about 1/2 of a huge overgrown Toyon that was creating dense shade and also leaning downhill. This opened up a area to more sunlight. Though it still was heavy, this was the lightest of the three. Good thing since it was going way down in the garden. This aloe also didn’t have straight trunk and leaned heavily to one side and had started growing some aerial roots. We used this and the slope of the hill to our advantage and Justin dug a slight trench into the hill side and was able to lay in into it.
This was Aloe ferox and it was already budding. The bud has continued to develop, so we are hopeful for a good bloom in a few months.
The following day, Justin needed a break from heavy lifting, so we waited until the next week to return and excavate and relocate the third aloe. We decided to position it at the bottom of the garden in a sunny spot. This required bringing it onto the property through our gate at the bottom of the hill, which opens slightly above the hotel parking lot below our house.
I already had a mostly aloe garden at the bottom of the hill, and a prominent spot in a bed required a plant with some structure. Initially, I had a large pot with a rare Agave there. However, the agave bloomed but neither died nor produced pups, and it didn’t look very good. We moved it aside and replaced it with a Pereskia grandiflora var. violacea that we had transplanted last year. Pereskia is a tropical cactus from Brazil. Unlike most cacti, it has leaves and thrives in hot, humid, tropical weather. When in bloom, it resembles a violet bougainvillea. I’ve killed this plant twice in the garden because it doesn’t like shade and wet feet in winter. We planted it back in 2017 or 2018, and it did well the first summer but had been declining ever since due to winter shade and damp roots. So, two years ago, we decided to give it one more chance and moved it to a year-round sunny spot with regular summer watering. It produced one tiny flower this year, and that was it… so it must go. I asked my friend Jodi, who lives inland in a warmer climate, if she was interested. She already has two of these growing in her garden, and fortunately, she said yes.
Hopefully, by late winter I’ll have three new magnificent blooming aloes in the garden.
One Response
Wow, what an undertaking. I know from personal experience how deceptive these large aloes can be. You know they’re heavy, but they’re always heavier than you estimate. You’re so lucky to have Justin.