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The back door garden without a lawn. That was a wise decision.
Way back we reached a point where keeping the lawn healthy and green became too much of a task. At that point we received notice of water restrictions - that was the last straw. We dug up every piece of grass- or rather "lawn". The photo above was taken after a few month's work has been done and we already started planting aloes. June 2005.
This photo was taken in July 2009 from the left side if compared to the photo above. It might help if you look at the tree on the left of the two photos I am standing next to the tree for this photo. The aloes - blooming or not - are much prettier than a half-dead lawn and the bonus is that we save a lot of water and work. We do not water at all, the rain is enough.
This photo above is the opposite side of the tree. One of the portions we planted first. The aloes are from left to right. Aloe ferox x Aloe arborescens, Aloe mutabilis x Aloe arborescens and Aloe cryptopoda
This is next to the tree on the left side. A portion of the rock-wall that I built is visible in the left back. The aloes are Aloe globuligemma x Aloe petricola, hybrids which Rudi raised from seeds. The close-up below shows more detail. Rudi planted a group of five plants which shows off very well when blooming together. Aloe petricola has an upright raceme and the raceme of Aloe globuligemma is horizontal. The hybrid plants seems to be somewhat confused which pattern to follow, but I am quite happy with that, it gives an interesting effect.
The hybrid seems to come in two colors. Dark orange opening to yellow and red opening to a creamy white, both with black stamens. The green style is easier to spot on the photos.
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