My Redneck Mother Aloe began life as three fingerlings in a seedling holder purchased at a Woolworth's deep in klan country of Central Florida ever so many years ago for the kitchen table of my first apartment. It's now about 50-lbs. Every few years it has to be transplanted into a bigger pot, which is always an Adventure of strength, faith and much bad language. When this garden project began I took some of the pots of cuttings from the mother plant and put them into the ground.
Spring, 2006:
They were happy there. REALLY happy. So happy that they ran around like heathens and even began blooming, which I had never seen before, except for in the wild. They also changed color a couple of times and grew spikes, which was fascinating. I still don't know why they did that, and keep forgetting to ask Shane about it.
November, 2008:
There was actually more in that space, but in early fall, feeling it was getting a wee bit crowded, I plucked quite a few of them to put in pots, many of which I gave away. The rest are still in pots in the yard.
Still plan to build a succulent wall behind them, inspired by a mall over in the Hipster side of town that has fantastic giant walls of succulents growing on the building, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I have begun growing the various succulents I plan to use for the wall, though. I'll probably start that project next year. I'll start small by testing up front, then build the big one on the garage and the retaining wall out back if all goes well.
