Beaucarnea Recurvate

Other Common names:  Ponytail Palm or Elephants Foot

Temperature:  45-85 degrees Fahrenheit

The Beaucarnea plant is great for first time plant owners, or as a gift to someone who is not sure how to care for plants.  The Beucarnea, or as many people call it,  Pontail Palm gets its nick name from the cascading leaves that cover the body of the plant that gives the same appearance as a pony’s tail.  Ponytails are an excellent house plant or also can be used as an outside potted plant.  It likes light shade to full sun so make sure it’s not outside when it’s cold or this plant will freeze. 

The best part about the Ponytail Palm is its very low maintenance.  The ponytail palm can go up to year without watering and still recover, I do not recommend this but at least you can go on vacation and still come home to a perfect plant.  The trunk of this plant is very thick at the bottom and holds a ton of water, so water this plant every 3 weeks in the summer and let it dry out in between waterings.  Ponytails do not like to be wet all the time so keep it in a pot that has a saucer under it so the water can drain out.  The ponytail palm can flower 2-3 times a year.  The flowers are white, cream and yellow.  In the winter months water only enough to keep the foliage from wilting.

The one piece of advice to remember about your Ponytail Palm is this plant is commonly over watered, so make sure the soil is almost completely dry before watering it and you should be fine.  Enjoy your ponytail palm!