Brian Kemble is curator at the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek. His monthly column focuses on drought tolerant plants and dry gardens. When the genus Aloe is mentioned, many people think ...

Debilitating droughts, fierce fires, water shortages — all are contributing to some people getting rid of their gardens. However, people can enjoy colorful plants while conserving water by changing ...

All the whimsy of Wonderland is here, but instead of giant mushrooms, there are rows of 12-foot aloes. Tweedledee and Tweedledum are a pair of big-bellied bottle trees squatting in the sun. Blooming ...

Last week’s column listed a Cactus & Succulent Society of America webinar, “Aloes on my Mind,” featuring plant propagator and hybridizer Karen Zimmerman from Huntington Botanical Gardens. I had heard ...

To brighten your garden from early spring through next winter, consider the cousins of the medicinal aloe plant. Aloes are rosette-forming succulents native mostly to Africa, with a handful of species ...

For any of us who burn in the sun, Aloe vera gel is just about the only practical relief we can get. It works well for plain old itchy skin, too. It has a clean, crisp fragrance that never over powers ...

This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. They’re hardy, require very little ...

Aloes include a wide range of succulents that occur naturally, mainly in Africa and Madagascar. About 125 different species are indigenous to South Africa, and many garden hybrids have been created to ...

As a lifelong lover of succulents, it’s exciting for me to see that they are suddenly back in vogue. Driven in large part by social media, sales of these wonderfully low-maintenance houseplants have ...