This is such an easy plant to grow, I don’t know why everyone doesn’t fill their gardens with them here in Portugal. Not only are they good for filling up big gaps, but they are easy to thin out if they get out of hand by just trimming off the excess ‘offsets’ or ‘babies’. Mature plants of four years or more will bloom, so if you see no flowers on your plants, it may be they are just too young yet.
They are ideal for Portugal - the care needed is only sunshine and little water, so they don’t need much watering. Outdoor varieties have been known to live well over two decades. Without enough sunlight, they may never flower, so ideally they should be planted somewhere with bright natural light.
Most aloes have a rosette of large, fleshy leaves, and flowers come in colours ranging from white, yellow, orange, red and even pink. The flowers are tubular and form in clusters on tall stalks that rise from the rosettes. There are over 500 species of aloe, some have the most beautiful swirly growth patterns and shades of green, and most have spiky or serrated edges.
They grow abundantly in tropical climates and one in particular has been used for centuries as a medicinal plant. Aloe Vera is an easy plant to grow in Portugal To use for its health benefits, it's imperative to choose leaves from the edible variety only, Aloe vera barbadensis miller, and not from other aloe species, as these may be toxic and obviously not fit for eating. It's generally safe to eat the gel of t.
