A poor sickly yellowing dragon aloe tree

Little Miss Dragon tree

Hello there,

We live in Brisbane and 2 years ago put a dragon aloe tree in our front yard.
This tree is native to South africa, grows in rocky-arid landscape and is drought tolerant. (When we chose this tree for our garden Brisbane was in drought!!!) We have now had unusually wet weather for the last 7 months and the tree has gone from having gorgeous dark green leaves to sickly, yellowing rotting leaves which are falling off. This poor tree is 'drowning' and even though we have had a top soil put on our garden, our original dirt is clay - which is dense and does not drain the water away. What I would like advice on is whether we dig around the tree and improve it's drainage with sand and gravel or whether we would be better to dig it out altogether and pop into a huge pot. Any advice would be most appreciated as my mother in law bought us this tree, therefore we cannot let it die!!
Thanks for reading my dragon tree dilemma & 'may the force be with you'
xxx Little miss dragon tree

Eric Frei

I think dig around and under, and lift it up and out. Pot it. Do not lift by pulling on plant or trunk, lift from underneath.

Digging a moat around it wont help when it rains again.

Another option is a raised garden bed, even a few sleepers. Mounding up on heavy clay soils is a viable option, just need sufficient sized area.

Pictures would be good.

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