It was late summer, our Texas Hill country was sizzling and I had a nasty burn. Not from the sun though and not all over - just a small spot on the inside of my left arm. Burns don't heal very fast on me, and aloe is about the only thing that can save me from weeks of having to take special care so that they don't get infected.
Usually I have an aloe plant around from which I can cut a leaf for gel to apply to superficial wounds. But this year I hadn't wintered over any in the greenhouse and I had failed to purchase a new one in the spring. So I was desperate to find a nursery that still had aloe stock this late in the season. "Ah-ha! I thought. I bet anything South Texas Growers will have one."
So I got in the car and drove the 15 miles, happy to see they were still open. I asked the lady and she led me to a shady area where she pointed out several giant male aloes (they are the kind with the stickery spines on the sides of the leaves). These things had seen better days; they were untended - looked as if they had been dumped there and forgotten. Some were lying on their sides, some upright, some scattered about; all looked dry and vastly overgrown in their pots. The plants had mushroomed above their gallon-size containers, appearing like tall fat men shod in tiny shoes. I didn't care. They were beautiful and I picked a large multiple one thinking I could divide it into several individual plants at home.
Just as I remembered, the gel helped my burn almost immediately. For that reason alone, I hoped never again to find myself without an aloe. But I never knew they made flowers, or how beautiful the blooms are. One day a month or so later I was standing at my kitchen sink looking out the window. I blinked when I saw my aloe had put up a long slim stalk with a desert-like unopened bloom at the top.
Taking daily note of it, in about a week and a half I saw the bud had matured to reveal a beautiful red blossom, similar to the one a firecracker plant forms. I knew when it peaked I had to have a picture and so yesterday I snapped it from various angles. The three shots above I thought turned out best.
