Aloes are very popular and some of the most rewarding plants to cultivate. They make excellent accent plants owing to their often strange and inspiring architectures, as well as the bright flowers that offset the grey-green leaves. They are also very suitable as container plants and small aloes can be used very effectively as border plants at the edge of a bed. Although aloes are most often included in rockeries, their application in horticulture is not limited to this feature and they can be used in almost any setting and in conjunction with most common garden plants. Their natural adaptation to harsh and often arid climates makes aloes outstanding subjects for the water-wise garden. Aloe is a genus in the Asphodeloideae family containing about 600 species of flowering succulent plants. Aloes are sometimes confused with Agaves. Contrarily to Agaves, Aloe leaves contain a gel like sap. Another difference is that Aloes don’t die after blooming as most Agaves do.

Aloe ferox commonly known as Bitter Aloe is a South African indigenous succulent found in the Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal Provinces. Its distribution ranges from Swellendam to southern KwaZulu-Natal, and extending inland as far as Lesotho and the southern Free State. It has an erect, unbranched stem of up to 3 m high, with persistent dried leaves and erect, much-branched, candelabra-like inflorescences with up to eight symmetrical racemes of bright red or orange flowers. It grows on rocky hillsides, on the margins of the Karoo, as well as grassy fynbos, Little Karoo and grasslands, where winters may be severe to mild. The bitter aloe is frequently harvested for use in the medicinal and cosmetics industries. In parts of South Africa, the bitter yellow juice found just below the skin has been harvested as a renewable resource for two hundred years. The hard, black, resinous product is known as Cape aloes or aloe lump and is used mainly for its laxative properties but is also taken for arthritis. “Schwedenbitters” which is found in many pharmacies contains bitter aloe. The gel-like flesh from the inside of the leaves is used in cosmetic products and is reported to have wound healing properties.