Found one!! Variegated Nolina/Beaucarnea

aka 'Ponytail Palm' for those who prefer common names.

I've been wanting one of these, and couldn't believe it when I walked into the nearby greenhouse and there it was!

Nan,

That is SUPER georgous...I love them as well but for some reason i cant grow them, they just wither of and die...i guess if it stayed summer here all year long i could and would grow alot of things, but when fall comes and my plants have to come in they usually just die...this is the first year that they have actually stayed pretty healthy.

Char

Rats! Nan you are the lucky duck! I was just looking at this over in Brugs!!! Then I googled it to see if it was available for purchase!
Nice specimen you have there!!

Thanks!
I've heard a few people say, here and there, that they're 'popping up' in local greenhouses....believe me, if they had it around *here*, they're likely to be in other areas soon!
Did you check ebay, Lali?

I really love it.

Oh, Char...I still owe you a package and I *promise* I will get one to you in the near future....I'll try to make it full of plants that do well indoors, primarily.
I must sincerely apologize (while hanging my head in shame) for my terrible procrastination. I'm usually not like that.

Had you tried the variegated one, Char? Or were you speaking of the green Nolina/Beaucarnea?

I've found that my all green one takes a lot of abuse, it gets very little light in the winter with all the plants I have competing for space.....and therefore it takes very, very little water.
I realize that it's likely this variegate one will need some extra light.
Where have you been, anyway, Char? We've missed you!!

Oh I really like that look! Makes me want to go to a few nurseries today. I love that thrill when you walk in some where and you first spy a plant you have lusted after. And you walk fast to it afraid it will be snatched from your fixed stare and lost once more.

I have a Pony Tail palm, and I remember reading somewhere that they absolutely HATE being overwatered. So I only water mine maybe once a month, and its only in a 4" pot! It does just fine, and seems very happy. They sure are unique looking house plants.

Randi

Nice find Nan.

It is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! You ARE so very lucky, Nan. How cool is that to find a VARIEGATED PT Palm? I'm going to be keeping my eye out for this and the yellow clivia. Seems these harder to find plants are appearing on the West Coast and not the East!

I have a large green Pony Tail Palm that I've had for many years ... and you talk about abuse! It's been outside by a back garage for over a year and we haven't had much rain this year at all and I have only watered it during the summer every couple of months and it's doing just great! It's gotta be the most misused/abused plant I've ever had and keeps on going! Here's a photo, you can see it in the back right of this picture behind the Aloe Vera plant.


Lin

I would love to find one like Nan's too .... that is really unique and I love variegated foliage plants! I'm not real crazy about these plants though .... I've had my fingers sliced up too many times by the fronds! Have to be very careful around them .... well, I do anyway, LOL .... I tend to reach for stuff and grab a handful of those razor sharp fronds .... not fun!

I have never seen one with varigation like yours Nan.Mine is just a solid green.What a find!! Oh I agree Lin, I have done that a few times myself without thinking *Ouch*!! : )

Now Nan, that is truly gorgeous! As big as your varigate is, it is an older plant, very nice.

Plain green one here and old ~ over 18 years.Yes, Beaucarnea recurvata is a tough plant. I had kittens about 10 years ago that knocked mine over and broke the top out of it. I was ill and set it out in the spring trying to ignore it. Was delighted to see it come back with multiple tops making it even fuller. Like the proud plant parent that I am, I will roll out a photo too. This is a link to this plant in my journal... http://davesgarden.com/journal/j/viewentry/111266/

Ahhhh Nan, yours is to lust after, great find! pod

Thanks, everyone!

I was really pleased to find it.
I've admired photos of others posted in the past year, and I truly couldn't believe that it was at this particular greenhouse, out here in PODUNK!! LOL!!

I did have to drive about 30 miles to get there, but I had saved a bit and hoping to reward myself if they had anything remotely 'interesting'....this definitely fit the bill! (Ü)
It was the only one there, and I snatched it up, readily!

My plain green Beaucarnea (I'm told these have been re-classified into Nolina) is 24 years old, and though the base is good-sized, it's not as big as it probably 'should' be for it's age, due to all the neglect it's suffered through the years.

I got mine as a tiny baby at a grocery store in a 2" pot....it's 'grown up' with my son, as I bought it when he was a baby!

I decided that I liked the look of multiple heads a couple of years ago so I 'topped mine off'...it now has 6 heads...I love the look of that!

Though we don't have an 'indoor' cat these days, I do very much recall that when we did, our cats LOVED to chew on these leaves. Glad there will be no kitty after this one;)

Nan,

Sorry bout not responding sooner...I get busy with life and seemed to just lurk in on DG mostly...

And please don't worry bout sending me anything, I love sending plants to friends...It's a absolute joy for me...I remember having a pony tail palm, at least i thought it was, it was sorta striped with pinks and reds mixed with greens.. I will see if i can find a picture of her, I actually found a picture of it in plant files http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/104259/ this is a beauty, i hope to find another one soon.

Maybe i will this summer and just keep her in the house and let her get used to the house.

Have a good evening :o)

Char

Hi Char -
I like sending plants to friends, too, and I'm *going to* (lol!) send you a division or 'babies' of my Hawaiian Spider. Is your address in the exchange? If not, I probably have it in my old d-mails.
I could send babies right now, if you like....or send a division when the weather warms up a bit...it's entirely up to you.

This plant doesn't have any shades of pink in it
It's rather new to the market and a bit 'pricey'.
Are you sure yours wasn't the variegated Dracaena marginata (D. marginata 'Tricolor')? That one's a beauty, too.....here's a link to a photo:
http://toptropicals.com/pics/garden/m1/raznozw/dracena6710.jpg
Either way, what a shame to lose one!

I've noted in the past the D. marginata 'Tricolor' needs more light than the plain D. marginata, and that overwatering was about the only way to kill a D. Marginata.
I've seen them once in a while....if I see them again maybe I"ll pick one up for you if you're interested?

d. marginatas need very little water and I can't seem to get that straight. I usually over do it but I certainly see a lot of the babies in the stores so there must be quite a market for them. :)

Way an awesome find, Nan!
:) Donna

That is a truly lovely plant! I have the plain green version that is quite large, although I can't take credit for its size since I've only had it 3 years. Each spring, I drag its heavy pot outside and it spends its summer on the patio.

I've only come across one variegated ponytail palm a few years back at a local greenhouse. I was so excited...until I picked up the 4" pot and saw the $75 price tag. :)

Ohmygosh!!
That must have been when she was 'really new' to the market.

Mine is in an 8" pot, though it doesn't have much of a caudex - (actually....maybe I should dig around in the soil by the chance that they buried it when potting it? GASP!)
and it was $30.

Now that's a lot for me to spend on a plant...but I had saved up some $$ , and my 8 y.o. DD 'told me' to get it, LOL!!!

"OMG"--My thoughts exactly when I saw the price! There's nothing worse than finding a spectacular plant and discovering an astronomical price tag. I rarely spend over $40 on a plant. I would definitely pay $30 for the beautiful plant you found.

Your daughter sounds like my 8 yo daughter--mine's an enabler too. She actually asks to stop at greenhouses. My poor DH!