All the Dirt on Gardening

To be able to grow an Aloe outside in zone 7, it has to be unique and this one certainly is. The flowers are green and bloom atop a 4 to 6 foot tall stem that rockets up, up, up. Full sun to part shade and dry to moist, well-drained average soil will keep this unique Aloe happy all the way down to zone 5. They are most often found on rocky glades and in open woods in their native surroundings, especially Arkansas. The stem emerges from a rosette of fleshy leaves that are 8 or more inches long and 2-inches wide. On ours the leaves have red flecks.  Flower Rattlesnake Master Several yellow-green flowers bloom on the top of the stalk and they are followed by fruit/seed capsules.  False Aloe flower stalk height  Manfreda native range Their native range is FL to TX, NC, WVa, OH, IN, IL, and MO.   No insect or disease problems. EasyLiving Wildflowers has the seeds but I bought ours as plants. Bustani Plant Farm in central OK has them ...

One of False Aloe's names is Rattlesnake Master. Sounds ominous, doesn't it? False Aloe or Polianthes virginica is a perennial for dry, rocky areas. The nondescript flowers are green on six-foot stalks and supposedly have an Easter lily fragrance. 2BNtheWild has photos . And check out the photos at the Vanderbilt site . The USDA plant profile ( here ) says that its plant family is Agavaceae (Century-plant family), the Genus is Manfreda Salisb. – tuberose and the species, Manfreda virginica (L) Salisb. ex Rose  – false aloe, is the only one in the species with a native range that includes Oklahoma. The others are from Texas. The roots were used in a variety of medicines back in Henrietta Herbal's day , 1898. Dropsy, snakebite, worms and diarrhea were some of its applications. They are supposed to grow in partly shady areas with average to rocky soil in zones 4-9 so I started seeds for the rocky spots at the back of the wooded area where the rains have washed away most...