PlantFiles: Pony Tail Palm, Bottle Palm, Monja, Palma culona
Beaucarnea recurvata

A native of southeastern Mexico, the ponytail is a palm-like succulent with a greatly expanded base and a single trunk with a rosette of long, strap-like leaves that arch and droop. With age, the trunk eventually develops a few branches. Ponytail can get up to 30' tall, and the base up to 12' across, but houseplants generally remain less than 6 or 8' tall. The leaves are thin and flat, up to 6' long and only an inch wide. They are clustered in dense tufts at the ends of the branches and arch upward and then droop downward. Flowers are produced only on large specimens. They are creamy white and inconspicuous individually, but borne in large showy upright clusters that extend above the leaves. This plant requires full sun, and is drought tolerant. Water deeply, but infrequently. It makes a large and handsome houseplant, doing well even in rooms with air conditioning as long as it has bright light. It's a good specimen plant for a rock garden in a dry, warm climate.

Living in coastal South Australia we find that pony tails thrive in our conditions. They really are very 'easy-care' plants and so attractive and unusual.

As regards propagation I have found two types of flowers in evidence; 1 a white top cluster of flowers only which produce no seeds and 2 a pinkish red cluster which produces 3 sided seeds as a conclusion to their flowering.
We leave the red fertile flowers on the plants till they dry, then collect the seeds and plant as any seeds. Results are very good.

I have not had too much luck with planting-out the smaller shoots from the main stem. They never seem to satisfy.
I hope this makes sense. We always grow them outdoors as we find them very hardy and not liking too much fussing and pampering.

We obtained our Pony Tail Palm one of our visits to Florida from a vendor selling tropical plants on a street corner for $5.00 some 15 years ago. It was only about 1-1/2' tall at that time, and we transported it all the way back home to Wisconsin where it wintered inside and spent summers in out backyard where my husband had built me a special latice backed platform where I could keep all of my many plants safely (and happily as they were protected from the hot sun, but still received plenty of combined light and shade.

My Pony Tail Palm thrived and grew so beautifully. I made sure it had good drainage; planted in a commercial soil mixture which I mixed with sand so that about 1/3 of the large round bottom was above the soil. I watered it well about once a week and fertilzed once a month. It reached a height of about 5 feet; however, during tornado-type summer storm, the palm incurred an injury to the upper most portion of its stem which "dented" permanently one half of the stem (appeared to have died off in that stem section).

My Palm then developed about 4 new Pony Tail growths from the stem below that were just beautiful; however, the main top died off completely which was very upsetting. Thus I began my quest to see if the side shoots could be propagated some way to develop into a new Palm. To date I haven't found anything except prapogation by seed. I cut off the top section of the dying main stem also wondering if a palm could possibly be grown by planting sections of the stem by planting in soil (sideways with a small section of the stem exposed above the soil--something like propagating a Tea Tree or Diffenbachia).

My family have been nurserymen as long as I can remember. Growing up in central Florida, the Ponytail Palm was always a prize in the garden. It was the center attraction in my Grandmothers nursery. But we never had any luck propagating it.

Recently my grandmother passed away and my parents took over the nursery and I received the ponytail that belonged to my grandmother. Then I moved to Arkansas and was concerned about it so we store it indoors under a grow light and was amazed at what it did. It bloomed. It had never done this before or had any that my family had ever owned or seen. We had heard of stories but they had eluded us.

After it bloomed we expected seeds but they never came instead we had baby plants that seemed to be growing from the mother plant. There were originally close to fifty or more about the size of a pencil eraser. So my mother tried to start 10 of them by separating them from the mother plant to not much avail. Now they have reached between 5 to 12 inches in length. My problem is that they are starting to break off due to their weight.

I live in central Florida and have had a Pony Tail Palm for over 30 years. It has always been a potted plant until this year. I have moved periodically, taking my plant with me. This last fall I finally bought what I hope is my last home and I planted this tree in the backyard. It is about 4 1/2 ft tall. I almost lost it in a freeze in 1983, but it came back.

Last summer while still in a root-bound pot it flowered for the first time. I was afraid that it would die after flowering but it did ok. When I moved I planted it and it is obviously very happy. It has since put out a lot of new growth. After cutting off the spent flower stalk it sent out two new apical growths.

Unfortunately we have had a very cold winter this year(27°- 30°F) and I worried a great deal over my baby. So far so good, now I have numerous new growths starting to pop out along its trunk. I look forward to seeing it grow to a beautiful specimen tree.

I was given this plant while in college, it was about 2 feet tall at the time. It has managed to stay alive and actually thrive for me in SC, NC and now CA. 20 years later she is now approximately 7 feet tall, bulb approximately 15 inch in diameter and beautiful. Mostly has been an indoor plant. Tried her on the patio for a while but could not handle the winds on the hill where we live in San Francisco. Transplanted her just a month ago. Last night I noticed she has a new branch coming off of the main stem. I really like the symmetry of the single stem but am not opposed to the new growth if it's supposed to be there.

I own a speciality cactus and succulent nursery and have had many of these plants produce the growth from the caudex. (Trunk base) It is a normal trait of the species.

The new growth can be cut flat with no harm to the plant. If left to grow, it will produce another trunk but not another plant.

One thing we do sometimes is to cut off the top where the leaves start to come out. This "forces" the plant to produce at least 3 new branches, making the plant look like it will when much larger. This is only to be done when the tree is small, (6" diameter) and when dormant. We do this around September.

I myself prefer the single trunk "fountain" look for as long as it remains un-branched. (See my photo above)

I recently bought a Ponytail Palm bonsai for my apartment balcony near the ocean in south Florida. It is a beauty with one bulbous trunk and two heads. I'm hoping it can thrive as a bonsai with west exposure that can get to 90°F degrees or hotter.

This plant survives in areas where it gets well over 110°F. It loves water, as long as it's not too much water. I have grown several of these in the ground and though they survive on NO extra water, they grow MUCH faster with lots of water. They are pretty resistant to rotting if all other conditions are good.

My friend has two of these plants at his home in San Francisco, CA and they grow very well. I went ahead and bought one for my self and repotted it but it seemed that the top leaves were starting to rot and I went ahead and pulled off the dead/rotten leaves. I started to worry that repotting the plant may have shocked it but a couple of weeks later I noticed 3 new branches growing off of the main stem. I've also been watering the plant once a week (keep the soil moist) per the instructions that was given when purchased at a local nursery and I've also placed it in a location that doesn't get full sun but indirect light. Now I've also noticed a Gnat infestation in the plant.

I am in no way a "green thumb" person. Someone told me that a pony tail palm would be the ideal plant for me. I recently purchased one for my apartment. It sits in my bedroom with filtered light. The leaves (stems, whatever you call them) are turning brown. I water it once a week (or week in a half) and add liquid fertilizer to the water about monthly.

I purchased a Pony Tail Palm in a 4-inch pot as an accent for a dish garden about 18 years ago. It now stands in my living room at a height of over 6 foot. The base is about 22 inches across. Leaf tips have a tendency to dry and be brown in the house, so I place it outside in the summer. The tip or crown split and now has double head, or pony tail. This is one tough plant; I water only on rare occasions and it loves it - seems to thrive on neglect.

I have a pony tail I have had for over 50 years. Living in Indiana I put the plant out in the summer after May and bring it in by September.This is a very heavy plant and takes a dolly to move it. It has been transplanted only 1 time.. It is over 5 ft tall and has 3 tops to it. Never bloomed as it has been indoors most of the time The base is 2 ft across . a great house plant that is admired by everyone that sees it.I fertilize about 4 times a year with miracle grow and water about every 3 weeks.This is a great site for any gardeners and lovers of house plants.

We used to drive by a commercial location that had three of these cute little "trees" in front. Each time, I would tell my husband I wanted to get "one of those" palm trees. Finally, one day when we were at Home Depot, they had them! I learned that they really aren't palm trees after all (I'm a HUGE lover of date palms - so regal looking in front of gorgeous resort hotels, don't you think? ;-) and that they are from the Agave (sp?) family, instead.

Well, I don't care where they come from, it is the cutest, easiest, and most complimented plant I've ever had!

We got my little guy for about $10 at Home Depot. His "hair" was kinda brown, but I've put him on the corner of my desk in my office - right next to the window, and his "hair" is as lush and green as can be. I turn him a bit every day, and water him with a tiny bit of water at his base every day or so - just a sip, and he's lovin' life. There are vertical blinds between him and the window, which means he gets filtered light, and sometimes direct. He hasn't grown much at the stem or base, but his hair is full and dark green. I'd like to put him outside, but since I purchased him in late November, I hesitated to put him out in our cold nights (40 degrees sometimes) in inland San Diego...he is just so cute, I didn't want anything to happen to him.

What part of the year can I transplant him, and will that make his trunk grow taller?

Do any of you have any tips on transplanting?

Anyone know where I can get more of them for a rea$onable amount?

Thanks for your answers, and for this wonderful forum!

I just bought a baby pony tail palm at my local nursury store. The base is a little less than 2 inches, and has no stem - the green fronds grow straight out of the base. This little plant is very interesting. I look forward to watching it grow.

I have inherited a pony tail from my daughter who specializes in buying then bringing to the brink of death, various lovely houseplants. I am then called in to save them, and the ponytail seems to be doing some better. It is however, planted (I think) too deep, and looks holey in spots, also there are some bulblets growing on the side of it. Do you have any idea how to salvage the bulblets, and whether or not I should raise the ponytail out of the dirt at this stage, or let things remain as they are? Thanks for any and all help, Tree

As much work as these have been for me starting out, I still have to say that it's been a positive experience having them. 2 small ones(1') I bought at Target, 2 yrs ago, started out as houseplants in my living room, but weren't getting enough light, so I brought them outside to the front porch. They seemed very vulnerable and one ended up with a bad case of mealy bugs. I sprayed them both regularly for several weeks and that has seemed to get rid of the pest problem, though I still keep an eye on them. They've been outside for over a year and I hardly water them. They get the moisture they need from the sprinklers and rain. I live inland San Diego, so I don't think the weather ever gets too cold for them, even in winter. They really enjoy the full sun and have gotten taller and now have reddish center leaves, which I'm not sure is a good thing or bad thing, but it looks pretty. I love how "airy" and tropically they look with their long thin leaves trailing down. It really looks like a green fountain. I get lots of compliments on them.

I just bought my 3rd one! I found some bigger ones(2-3') for sale at Walter Anderson's and finally bought one for my bedroom! I potted that this wkend and just put it in front of a west facing window, so I'm curious to see how it does. If it's not getting enough light, it may end up out on the deck!

I am glad I looked online, though I wish I had sooner. I trimmed off all the brown tips, only to read that you shouldn't do that. They will just turn brown again.

I have found that in Tucson, AZ my Ponytail can not tolerate full sun. Still in its original pot, I have placed it in full sun and the leaves started to burn within a day or two. I moved it to partial shade and it greened back out with new leaves. Recently I found another location that I wanted to plant it that has a little less shade during the day and within three days I moved it back to the partial shade area where it thrives. It loves a lot of water and making it happy is more important then the location that I want it to live.

The Ponytail Palm / Elephants Foot Pam are quite capable to outliving their owners. Actually with proper care, this plant can outlive many generations of owners/people. In their native habitat, specimens have been discovered that are 100's of years in age.

In your home, this plant will grow slower then ones in nature. From my personal experience, when your plant hits approx 20-25 years old, they become rather difficult to manage, just by their shear size & weight.

I purchased my Elephant Foot Palm in 1985 at Flower Time, it was a Garden Center in Freehold NJ off Rt9 (long out of business). At the time it was the size of a large onion. The center stalk was cut, so the plant had approx 3 main branches.

Today, (as of 11-05-04) my Elephants Foot Palm's base is approx 4 Feet (48inches) in circumference. I need two or more people to help me pick it up & move it. It makes a great conversation piece & most people comment on it.
With age, these are striking plants. I keep mine indoors during the winter, and mid spring into summer I move it outdoors in the back yard. This plant is a life companion if you treat it well.

I have 2 ponytail palms, one of them a 6" and the other in a 16" pot . I put the 16" outside in the summer and bring it in durring the winter. It has about 10 heads plus more shoots comming out. It is my favorite of all my house plants, the only problem that I have experienced is the scale that seem to get on the plant durring the summer. With a little thearapy I manage to get rid of them in time to bring it in for winter. One thing that I have noticed about the 6" is that it has a deep burgandy color, lighter in the winter and deeper in the summer! The 16" has never done that before that I have seen. These are great plants for people who are busy they seem to thrive on neglect. Overwatering is a bad thing because of rot, my first one years ago rotted because I overwatered:(

Soon after I bought my house three years ago, I discovered a small Pony Tail Palm tossed aside by some previous owner, left bare root in some weeds by the front door. My house had been empty for some time prior to my buying the house, so the Pony Tail Palm had survived bare root for a year, possibly longer. There were only a few scraggly leaves on the onion sized bulb. I didn't have much hope it would survive, but I potted it up anyway. Lo! It immediately showed signs of recovery and within a few months, the base of the trunk had swelled and it had put out a healthy spray of long, streaming, slightly curled leaves (earning the species name "recurvata"). It continued to grow in its pot for two years, reaching about 2' in height. I am short on space for overwintering plants in my greenhouse, so I decided to plant the Pony Tail in the sunniest part of my garden. It thrived this past summer with watering every few days and made it through the winter with occasional temperatures of 28 F. For winter protection, I built a temporary green house around it with upright pvc poles and a tent of visqueen plastic sheeting. There was no frost or freeze damage.

My most striking memory of visiting the Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Coconut Grove, Florida, in 1976, was the HUGE (probably about 30' high) Pony Tail Palm growing in the garden. I was sad to learn that the plant was devastated, along with much of the rest of the plants in the Fairchild Gardens, by Hurricane Andrew. I hope it has made a recovery in the years since, but haven't had a chance to visit the gardens.

I am confident that my Pony Tail Palm will continue to grow now that it is out of the pot and can expand its root system indefinitely. I will continue to erect a temporary greenhouse around it each winter as our winter temperatures can sometimes drop well below freezing (boderline Zone 8b/9a in NE Fla). It may never rival the magnificience of the plant I saw at the Fairchild Gardens, but hope springs eternal!

We live in the south coast area of NSW Australia, cool and wet.
The only thing I can add to all the positive statements about this plant is that it is also easy to transplant.
We successfully ransplanted two plants about 4 feet tall by digging under the plant close to the base, tearing away most of the fine roots. We placed them in their new position on a raised bed of soil and potting soil mix. Watered them in and voila.... They are growing too well and too fast!! Twelve months later they are 7 feet tall and have barnced out,
One plant has had a white flower and no seeds, the other one has had a pink flower with seeds.

I have had my pony tail palm for years, carefully moving it in and out, for the winter. It has a base about 12 inches in diameter and was about four feet tall.This year my sister was helping me move plants out and somehow the top was broken off. Is their any hope for my plant and should I trim the stalk?

My (pictured) ponytail palm is about 20 years old. It was in several containers for about 10 years before I finally planted it. Then we put in a different pool and I had, what I felt was an ideal spot, so three of us with a wheelbarrow moved it to the pool area. It's been in it's current location about 4 years and is doing well. Although it's 20 years old, it has never flowered. It's a "no brainer" as far is care goes. Plant it and forget it. Just be sure to leave about 1/3 of it's bulb out of the ground when replanting or repotting them. Poolside in zone 10, it's ideal since it doesn't drop leaves. My plant shown is about 7' tall. The leaves have very sharp edges which can easily cause a paper cut type of injury. Handle the leaves with care.
Art

We have had my ponytail for about 6 years now. We love it and it is the only house plant that we have. we have gotten 3 new shoots off of the bulb this year and one shoot is actually a double head. Our cat has taken quite a fancy to it's long green leaves and has chewed quit a few of them off at this point. The bulb is around 7 to 8 inches across and it is around 2 feet tall, I had come here looking to see if the new branches could be removed and replanted to make new trees with, but from reading the input of everyone in here I guess they can't. Hopefully the main branch will stay alive as we just repotted it into a new bigger home for it. I loved reading all the stories in here about their ponytails and I am glad that a forum actually exists like this. Any suggestions as to how to keep the cat out of it would be helpful, the squirt gun doesn't work because he continues to jump on the table...lol. Everyone continue enjoying there palms and have a great day.

I bought one of these as a baby house plant (base just under 1" diameter) for my daughter's room. That was a year ago, and since then it has been cruelly neglected and sadly even abused. My daughter (2yrs old now) has pulled it off the windowsill several times and last time I just chucked it back up without replacing the lost mix or replanting it (getting the potting mix out of her cot was a higher priority at the time). I watered and replanted it recently, had to submerge the entire pot to re-wet the soil as it had been a good eight or nine months since it had last been watered. You'd think that sitting bare-root on top of bone-dry soil for six months would have killed it but it actually looks fine, the leaves haven't dropped or even browned, in fact it may have even grown a few more. I love these plants, they are virtually unkillable as long as you don't overwater (not a risk my plants face).

Why a great,easily available plant is not grown outdoors in the greater S.F. bay area is a mystery to me.Mine flowered 7-8 years after planting in ground, and then branched after the spent flower stalk was cut off.Now,13 years after planting it is a 6 foot or so tall "palm" with a 3 foot wide base. They need to be regularly watered for good growth and a lot of fertilizer or they develop yellowish leaves or tips. Maybe iron but i just use a good all purpose organic fertilizer. Low thirty temps(night) are no problem.Their need for water might make them a better companion for roses, figuratively speaking, than cacti.
I bet they would make a great GROUP bonsai instead of the usual single plant. Like pic 14 in miniature.
And notice how this personable plant becomes almost like a cherished pet!
EDIT: The 07 freeze didnt affect mine at all, BUT i do remember the high 20's of 98 did burn top leaves. Low 20's i heard kills them outright-unless its the briefest dip into that range. I wouldnt consider them 9a unless you live in a long hot summer climate and they can recover from light winter dieback.

I purchased a seedling for $1. at the New England Flower Show almost 30 years ago. I still have it. I think it will be a lifelong friend. It's not big for it's age because I haven't re-potted it in 20 years. The base is 8 inches in diameter in a 10 inch pot. I'm afraid that when it does get re-potted it will become too tall for my home, so it stays pot-bound. It sits on a 20 stand and touches the ceiling now. It looks healthy with new leaves coming all the time. I water it from the bottom because it has pushed itself out of the pot. Never any fertilizer. See my photo.
Andy P

Globose caudex over 1 m in diameter with few stems to 6 m high;green leaves to 1 m long and 1-2 cm wide ;tall,branched inflorescence.

I have a very big one of these in a container outside. Its doing very well, i just hate how the end of the long ( i guess you could call them this) leaves look all brown and burnt, i seem to be cutting at the brown tips often. Also, it never seems to green up, its always light green, sometimes a little yellow. Its a great plant and very eye catching. It doesnt like a lot of water. I wouldnt buy another one, but i will keep mine for sure.

I bought one of these a few months ago - it is about 1 1/2 feet tall right now and seems to be doing well. I love them - they remind me of something you would see in a Dr. Suess book! Especially the pictures of the older ones grown in clumps.

If you are ever in South Florida, go to Fairchild Tropical Gardens and see their monster ponytail. Also, it is not a palm!

I have had both good and bad with this plant. I bought two at the same time. One was a triplet of bulbs, after about 6 months, they developed rot of some sort, and died off one by one.
The other one has survived a move from AZ to NY and is now about 4 years old - at least in my care. It has lived outside in summers at both locations, had a re-pot, and several trims of overgrown fronds. So far, we are nearing our 5th year, and it is still doing well.

I bought a ponytail palm when my 1st daughter was almost 2 yrs (almost 17 yrs ago). It was in a 4" pot, then lived in a 15" pot until a couple of weeks ago, when we had a "pot-breaking " ceremony. We had to use a hammer to break the old pot and moved it into a new, larger pot, which I painted her initials and the year "AL" joined our family (1989). Arna Leigh will be leaving for A&M in August, and Al can go with her. All Arna will need to do is make sure it gets plenty of light and forgetting to water it for a few months (college students...) won't kill it! I've done the same for my youngest daughter (only have 2 girls), and when she's ready to leave for college in 3 yrs, we'll have another "pot-breaking" ceremony...but I can wait!!

My Pony Tail is 17 years old in Zone 9b, facing north in dappled shade from an old Oak...and is now 18 feet tall...It is planted in extremely sandy soil, and gets only rain water..It has 23 little branchlettes on it, mostly near the base which is now an oval shape that is 57 inches across and has 5 trunks on it.. one trunk was removed after hurricane damage several years ago, and there is a branchlette coming out from that cut now that is about 3 inches tall..I will add a pic of the base as well as the tree above..

I just bought one of these neat plants about a week ago from the plant stand (and plants) we have at work for sale. She's still a little baby, the trunk/bulb only being about a couple inches tall so fare with a nice healthy "pony tail" start.

I replanted her from the 4" clay pot she came with into a larger 8" version, however now I'm hearing information about these palms needing a larger pot, with lots of room to grow. Dose this mean the 8" pot is still too small and I should give her either the 12" or 15" pot I also bought?

What is the best type of soil to use? Would a soil-base mix be good to use (1 part sterilized soil, 1 part Peat Moss, Bark, or Leaf Mold, &1 part coarse sand or Perlite)?

Feeding (H2O)...I've heard water once a week, once every 3 weeks, and 3-4 times a month...what would be best? I live in Oregon, and sunlight in the house ranges from mid to high depending on the weather.

Fertilizer...I've heard once a month, once every 3 months, just 3 or 4 times a year, or never...what would be best for one growing indoors (outdoors when older and bigger) Oregon?

Any tips for this first time grower would be much appreciated.

is this worth trying in an 8b/9a zone with 9a or 9b microclimates?

I love this plant! It's like an old friend. I had one for 20 years and unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control, I lost it. I purchased a new one when I moved to N.C. and it's only a couple years old. Yesterday my 9 year old tripped and fell into it, snapping off two heads and seriously damaging the 3rd. I placed the two broken tails in water and bandaged the badly bent-over but not broken, third one. Does anyone have any advice for my babytail. Do you think the bandage will allow the stalk to gain strength and heal or am I hopelessly hoping, and what are my chances (and how) can I save my broken off tails? I'm begging, I cannot bare this grief, please anyone.. HELP!

My mother had a triplet plant that had been abandoned in an apartment that she moved into. That was almost 20 years ago.

I finally bought my own triplet plant and am having good success with it.

However, I wonder about splitting the triplets up? Is it possible? Or would it hurt the plant?

You should definitely try this plant in zone 8b/9a. I overwintered a 1 1/2 foot ponytail in the ground two winters ago in Surfside Beach, SC. It was the first year planted out and stayed beautiful the entire time including through a couple of 18 degree nights. It was a fairly well protected, though, under a deciduous oak and only eight feet or less from buildings on three sides. I moved a couple of miles south to Garden City Beach and replanted it in March of 2006. It did great through most of the winter in a narrow (12 foot wide) strip between a fence and my house, but with no protection overhead. The one 19 degree night took it out this winter. Or so I thought. Two weeks ago I noticed some growth coming from the base. Now I have three little sprouts about an inch long! This was a bit of an experiment to see how hardy this plant is, and it's WAY hardier that I expected. I also have a five foot potted specimen that I left on the porch through this past winter for the first time and it did great.

I have been growing a highly variegated Beaucarnea recurvata since I obtained it many years ago in a 6" pot. The plant is now over 14' tall and is flowering for the first time. I can certainly expect a moderate number of seed to set under normal pollinating conditions. However, I would like to maximize the pollination result by hand pollinating the plant. Does anyone have any experience with this procedure that they may want to provide? Or perhaps you can direct me to an informational source that would provide that information. Thanks!
...B. Shakey

We have 8 ponytails planted out in the garden. They have been there between 20-25 years. One had to be transplanted as it was in the way of a new garage. It was heavy and awkward to move (it is the only one with multiple trunks) but with plenty of water it put out new growth quickly. To our immense surprise, 6 of the 8 have started their first flowering. The spikes grow so fast, a couple of inches a day, amazing. Am now awaiting the flower show. Will send a photo when they are out.
They are groing in sand/limestone base soil, fairly standard here in Western Australia. Only get watered by sprinkler twice a week or when it rains. Never get around to fertilizing them, and they cope with full sun, in a temperature range of around 0º-45º celsius.
Amazing plants, looking forward to seeing them flower and then how they grow after that.

We bought this plant when we bought out house in Banning, California in 1989. Our new next door neighbor sold it to us with a few other plants. She assured us that it was a very slow growing plant and that she had owned it for about ten years. A friend of ours said their plant had stayed the same size for all the years they had owned it. Ours was about three feet tall at that time. In a few years it grew to five feet tall and was so big around that we had to move it out of the dining room. it went onto our patio where it made it through all the seasons equally well. It soon outgrew it original huge pot and we planted it in the only large container we had available at the time, a ½ whiskey barrel. This meant it was now a permanent "outside" plant which could no longer be moved in for the winter. In 2007 we had a freeze that killed nearly everything else outside but this plant came through unscathed. In the spring is started growing little plants on the trunk. there are about 20 of them now. Then In the summer of 2007, now taller than the top of our walls, it bloomed! We have no idea why it bloomed this year because nothing in the way we took care of it has ever changed. We think maybe it was the freeze.

We were amazed to watch the stalk grow and flower open. We had so many honeybees that were attracted to it. From the first rays of the new day to the last light it was covered with honeybees. We posted pictures too.

Now, out plant can no longer be moved and we know that the next time it outgrows it's container we will have to have heavy equipment in to transplant it into the ground. The only thing we don't know is what to do with the flower spike now that the flowers are gone. Any help you may have for us would be greatly appreciated.

We love this plant!!

I just bought three nice, 1-foot ponytails at home depot for $2 apiece. I planted them outdoors this week in a drought tolerant bed along with different succulents, aloes and agaves. Hope they grow nicely here.

I bought my ponytail palm in 1974 for 38cents. At that time it was just about 3 inches tall. I have it in a large pot which is on a plant dolly. In the summertime I put the plant outside on the porch and bring it inside before the first frost. It has never bloomed but it does have 6 or 7 "babies" growing off a side "arm". The foot is about 17 inches around and the plant is about 3 feet tall from the base of the foot to where the leaves start to fall over.
In 1977 when this plant was just 4 years old and much smaller, it won grand prize at the county fair in the house plant category. I keep the grand prize ribbon hanging on it now. This "baby" of mine has survived on what I call "benign neglect". I water it when I think about it. It hasn't been re-potted in years. It might grow more if it was in a bigger pot but it is big enough to suit me and takes up enough room as it is. When I think to do so, I will put several Jobe's plant food spikes around the base of the foot. That is the only way I have ever fed it. Years ago when I had a cat, the cat loved to play with the long leaves and tore them with her claws when she was batting at the leaves. The plant even survived that--LOL.
I should probably find out what to do with the babies that are branching off the bulb but so far I have just left them alone and they are doing great. I would be very sad if I were to lose my "baby". I love this plant.