In December 2024 I wrote a post about repotting my aloe vera which had become too big to keep inside. I needn’t have been concerned that it wouldn’t grow outside. This summer it produced a spike over half a metre tall (66cm in fact) from which elongated trumpet-like flowers emerged. It was intriguing to watch – my home-grown variation of the ‘corpse flower’ in the Botanic Gardens which people queued to see.

Today, the last flower is fading at the tip of the spike. The plant is on more of a lean than it was, probably because Felix tried to climb it this morning. Incriminating evidence: his fur all over it, and the thumping and scrabbling noises he made as he fell between the wall and the pot – which was where he was when I looked out the window. However, the plant seems to have a firm foundation, having grown massively since I repotted it – quite a change from the wobbly little plant it was when my nephew gave it to me in 2021.