PlantFiles: Fan Aloe
Aloe plicatilis

This is a very southern S African aloe that, like most of its neighbours, does well here in coastal Otago, South Island of New Zealand. It LOVES water, especially during winter, which is counter-intuitive to most succulent fanciers, and the brown tips seen in so many are the result of too-dry conditions.
Id say we are zone 9, rarely getting too far below 0 celcius (I think thats 36 F) with a min of -5 on v. rare occasions. I can confirm that these aloes dont like a frost and will almost certainly be damaged by it. I have read South African accounts of them tolerating frost and snow without problems in their native setting but I just find this hard to swallow given the softness of their leaves, and the similarity of the conditions here. With a sheltered site they do tolerate low temps just fine, as long as they dont freeze- in my experience.
They dont like super-hot high UV conditions and I tend to shade mine a little in summer. Half day sun seems to result in plumper, more flawless leaves. The fatter the leaves, the happier it is, which is a simple thing to remember.
Becomes a very attractive multi trunked small tree given the right care. It's important to turn the potted specimens to get balanced branch structure- all those lopsided ones you see around are often the result of permanent shading on one side. Hope that helps!

I bought a few of a very small version of a somewhat variegated variety of the a. plant, from Home Depot and Lowes, and put them in one pot on my patio. The ribbon-like leaves are a deep green with intermittent rows of white spots and were under 2" in length when purchased. Over 5+ years, they've grown to approx. 6-9" in length. They have southern exposure, with direct light in the morning and late afternoon, and get watered on weekends. The lowest temperature we've had has been in the high 30s (F).

In San Diego county 7 miles from coast grows best if placed in bright shade on northern side of structure, sheltered from direct sun. Does not seem to get the typical brown tip. It flowers more prolifically, as well, whenever grown this way.

Doesn't need any special winter protection for most of the inner Bay Area. And nothing looks like it. A moderate grower that can grow to a massive bulk even here. And showy flowers like most Aloes.

In the San Diego area I find that every one of these (including the one I have) brown at the tips which make them not very attractive.

I find this to be a slow-growing plant, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

This is an elegant plant with a "very deco" look to it. Pretty fast growing for a potted Aloe, protected over winter in 9b greenhouse. Native to South Africa, hopefully it will eventually get branches like it does in its native habitat.

Very commonly grown specimen aloe for So Cal, as it is unique looking- pale blue-green flat, spatulate leaves, very 'user-friendly' (no spines) and eventually becomes a small tree (worth a fortune then). Does tend to brown tip in hot, sunny locations. Seems to like more water than the average aloe, though survives in very extreme drought situations as well (just VERY slow then, and tends to lose most/all leaves).

I am dubious of the zone 9a rating we have for this plant in the plant files, as mine, and many other plants in Los Angeles county got pretty badly damaged this Jan 07 freeze- didn't even get down to 25F in most areas, but was at least 27F for 5 hours... and most of the leaves burned turned to black. AM curious how it would do below 25F... anyone have any experience with this?