Hi, all, I'm desperately seeking not Susan, but a new Aloe to replace the one I had for 25 years that broke off its root. Does anyone know where I can find a replacement live Aloe Vera plant, the bigger the better, within reason. I have no way to treat my many burns from cooking for a large family!
Your local IKEA may indeed be your saviour in this (and may also have A. arborescens, which is stronger).... And although it sounds tacky, WalMart has saved my bacon on Aloe plants in the past. And of course, you could go to the UBC botanical gardens and see if they have pups for sale!
But do the other aloes have the same medicinal qualities? I understood that it has to be the Barbadensis to heal burns...
A. arborescens has been scientifically proven stronger and more effective than A. vera against burns and minor cuts. It's the aloe I swear by, and people here will tell you that I burn myself fairly often. Here is one of the studies.
There are varieties of Aloe with adverse effects. One I have at home, while not harmful, has bright yellow sap which stains whatever it comes in contact with. It takes a few days to come off the skin too. I started collecting them for a while but quickly realised it would be a bit hard to collect them all :} I stopped at about 60 varieties in the end. I still have about 40 odd different ones left. My favourite are the tree aloes especially A. dichotoma.
I went to that journal abstract and it wanted $31 to read it, so I didn't -- but I accept your word for the contents! I'll see if I can find aloes at the Wal-Marts and Home Depots in Victoria and Duncan, I'm on Salt Spring Island, so those are the closest. I guess I'll let my fingers do the walking to begin with. Thanks so much for the helpful pointers. I still hope someone will just offer to sell me one or trade me for some of my organic pepper seeds or heirloom tomatoes or some such thing. I know they make pups pretty readily, mine used to do it every year and I'd pot them up and give them away. If only I'd kept some! I'll also call the local nurseries and see if anyone knows where I can find one.
Another possible place to contact would be the SSI Garden Club, I think. I'm fairly certain my aunt and uncle are members (he used to do the newsletter) -- I can send you their phone number, if you like.
Hi, Daniel, that would be nice, although I have lots of friends in the Gardening Club, even used to be a member myself, but never thought of asking there! But that's a good idea, maybe I could send out a bulk email to the membership and see if anyone has an Aloe they could share.
Yep, a bulk email to the members would be more direct than calling my relatives. Hope you have some luck!