I read about aristata on PDN, and I thought they said it could handle down to 20 or so. While I would love lower temp tolerances, if I can get something that can handle 20 then I'd be good for about 98% of the time in my raised bed at my apartment. Every few years it might need some extra heat, but 20 for an aloe/gasteraloe is nice for me, thankfully. I love aloe blooms, so it would be nice to have an easyish one to raise here. I especially love echeveria blooms, so I'm really hoping I can have some luck with scrictiflora. But I digress...Gafoto wrote: ↑Fri Jan 12, 2024 5:34 pm The jury is still out on that Aloe aristata. I bought a supposed 9000’ specimen from Ethical Desert and it definitely melted last winter under heavy snows and single digits temps. Another one is in the ground this winter to see how it does and I pulled another pup inside for a third and final try if it doesn’t stick. My guess is that it’s Pueblo hardy which means it can handle cold if it is bone dry but not snow.
The other aloes he claims are cold hardy are….mixed. The Aloe tomentosa was taking frost damage in the 20s and is probably mush now. The Gonialoe variegata he sells was good into the 20s but is currently buried so we won’t know for a bit. Probably won’t bother with those again. If they’re hardy they would probably require full covers and I just don’t love Aloe enough for that.
Only concern is I just bought a cheap aristata from succulent depot along with some sedums, dudleya, etc. It doesn't say it came from high altitude or anything. Hopefully that wasn't a mistake, but we will see. I repotted it, and there were offsets starting on it, so hopefully I'll have some spares to experiment on next winter.
Every time I complain to myself about keeping some of these plants in this cold, I see you, westfork, and/or jnewmark talk about low temps and am grateful I'm only 8a. Y'all are devoted.