Combining aloes with cycads

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This year I've started adding aloes as companion plants to my cycads. When the cycads were first planted, they were smaller and much lower to the ground, but as they've grown, and gotten taller, they have opened up a lot of bare ground that now needs some visual interest.

Luckily, most of my cycad friends also are collectors of aloes, so I'm learning more now. The aloes that you see here were given to me from my friends as *pups*. That's one of the nice thing about aloes and agaves, they pup (create offshoots) that need to be trimmed away, and can be given away to friends. Aloes take root readily, and just need some dappled shade, and steady moisture.

At first I started asking the names of all of these aloes, but I've stopped now. I'm sure an expert could identify them, but to me, they're just aloes. They seem to be very happy here with the cycads!

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