Wodyetia bifurcata - Foxtail Palm
By Delonix1
22 Jul, 2013
2 likes
My Foxtail palm is growing very well this year with more water. It should be much larger; however, has been kept too dry for the last 4 years. You can see GoY member, Randallsd's Foxtail palm which is about 30ft (10m) tall in the distance. It's the last palm in the middle of the photo. Also, you can see the monsoonal moisture in the background, which was covering us for 3 days...the sun is back today, though. Photo taken July 22, 2013.
Comments on this photo
The reason why they're so drought tolerant is: they have a very deep root system. When grown in pots they always tend to push up right out of the pots.
Foxtail palms grow well only in Southern California, some of the south Gulf States to Florida. They're only reliably hardy in Southern California, South Florida and extreme south Texas, though.
31 Jul, 2013
Now Marguerite, not all of Qld is wet and soggy. My little corner is very dry for most of the year. The Foxtails do fairly well here, but do best further north in the wet tropics. It's great to see yours taking off finally, Andy.
4 Aug, 2013
Bernieh:
Thanks! Foxtail palms are cheap. Large trees to more than 15ft tall are sold at the big box stores for about $100.00...athough, I have seen them on sale for around $79.00. Thousands are shipped in from Hawaii.
4 Aug, 2013
Marguerite:
Yes, it's native to extreme northern Queensland. It actually grows very well in California and is very common because of it's extreme drought-tolerance. It grows much faster and looks better with more water, though.
28 Jul, 2013