Random plant event: Aloe maculata offset

I'm kind of impressed with myself on this one, and some of the other Aloes I have. I mean, I'm not saying there should be a national holiday or anything, but I'm surprised that I've managed to keep this plant growing as long as I have, given that I've never had that much full-sun space available. The credit, of course, goes to the genus: I hadn't imagined that Aloes could be so flexible.


I've had A. maculata since April 2007. I've been calling it by the synonym A. saponaria all this time, and only just today confirmed for myself that maculata is the correct name. So that's one more thing to do a find-and-replace for on the blog.

It's a little funny-looking, because it's been getting light from the side (window), instead of from overhead like it would naturally. The downward-arching leaves are its way of trying to point as much leaf surface at the light source as possible. This makes it harder to get the plant off and on the shelves, which is annoying, but otherwise it seems harmless.


And now there's an offset. If it'd been outside for these past three years, it would probably have done that a long time ago, but at least it's doing it, finally. It's been a nice, solid, quiet plant. I won't mind having more of them.