Wodyetia Species, Foxtail Palm

I started my Foxtail Palm from seed about 5 years ago in a small container. Eventually (about a year after germination) I transplanted i...Read Moret into a standard, vinyl-type (cheapest) container. It's now about 7-8 feet tall in this container. Even here, inland (east) of Tampa a few miles, we get frosts in Jan/Feb...sometimes very hard freezes. This tree gets covered along with other tender plants. (Once, I didn't protect it and the fronds frost burned.) I should also add that the patio is entirely screened......which adds some element of protection. I consider this palm to be relatively slow-growing...at least under the circumstances in which it has been growing. It gets a few hours of direct sun in the afternoons--through the screening. Because of this plants nature of growing slowly, I take special care not to over water it....and never have a large-sized tray/saucer under its container. My Foxtail Palm usually grows 1 or 2 new fronds each growing season---I suppose the large it is, the faster it will produce new growth (like many other plants do.) I'm hoping that this plant never gets too tall in its container that it will no longer fit within the confines of my screened patio/pool area....I'll know more in about 10 years....(give or take.)

although mine is growing quite slowly, i cannot give this palm a rating below a positive. i love the leaves and the formal look of the sc...Read Moreulpted trunks. the crownshaft and lush foliage gives this palm a very tropical look and feel. the younger ones here take some damage on very cold nights but the mature ones are pretty hardy' brown at the tips of the leaflets. its very clear that the more well kept , fertilized, watered, and sheltered ones fare the best. of course they are not as hardy as queens. i hope for mine to take off and become the centerpiece of my yard someday.

I planted Foxtail Palms in my yard in the spring of 2008 her in Portland TX (near Corpus Christi). We had a brief (never more than 8 hou...Read Morers) of cold weather and even a little snow during the winter of 2009. I did not cover the palms as as a result, they all died! So I started with new, bigger (10-12 feet) trees in the spring of 2010. Once again, we had a freakish winter and it went all the way down to the mid 20's and stayed below freezing for about 60 hours! This time I was prepared and had the trees wrapped from the ground to the tip of each frawn. The end result was that 3 of the five appear to be dead! There has been no growth at all on the 3. How long should I wait before calling it quits and just starting over?

Great looking palm. Love it. Wish I had more. Highly recommended.

3 years ago I purchased 2 foxtail palms about 10' in height. I placed them both in the entrance of my home. Now they're very much alive, ...Read Morebut they look terrible. Brown, burnt like and short pods. I have yet to feel like my purchase was worth the sight on a daily basis. If nothing changes by spring I will be forced to pull em out. Until then I keep hoping some miracle fertilizer will repair em.

bought a small foxtail palm a few months ago from lowe's. i must admit, the small ones don't look much like the big ones, but i'm hopeful...Read More that as it grows it will look more and more like the beautiful foxtails i see all over.

I have 4 Foxtail seeds that have rooted and sent up about a half an inch tall sprout. anyone know how fact they grow from this point?

I have a Foxtail palm and only now was able to id it here. It's going about 30Ft tall, without any fertilizing and I barely water it. It ...Read Morelends a lush tropical feel to my garden. I love it!

I love the look of these palms. They are all over our area in landscapes.
I have mine in a container as we rent and want to take ...Read Moreit with us when we leave.
I am noticing brown tips and alot of spotting. I'm thinking it is from the cold this winter. I've heard adonidias are suseptable to this also.
Everything I've read says fast growing. I would say mine is slow. Maybe because it's in a container.

The worst choice for a cool summer area.Even in our mildest year ever, it grew just one and a half fronds. Strange that it has such good ...Read Morecold tolerance for freezing weather or short winters spells.
It might be possible in those sheltered areas where a variation of 'The greenhouse effect' (patio enclosures or hot walls)bring up our zone15-17 Sunset,heat..
A very attractive palm,so tempting....
Foxtails resemble a cross of Caryota(fishtail palms) and Queen palms. Save your money and time, and use either of those hardy palms in the bay area.
2018: Well,I have seen them looking ok here in town. They are not palms that give fast results or will ever be towering. Mostly look like a dwarf Queen palm.

My husband and I planted a single Foxtail Palm and then another set of 3 that were growing together in our front yard. We live about 20 ...Read Moreminutes south of Houston and our climate stays hot and very humid all summer. However, ours are doing VERY well!

The single palm has put on a foot and a half of new growth in the last 3 months and these are simply beautiful, full-looking palms when planted in groups. We're using ours to make some not-so-pretty neighboring apartments less visible, and they really add a lot to our home!

I also have a triplet Pygmy Date palm set, an Oleander, 2 sagos (one very tall and the other trunk is about 3 inches tall) and 4 very large and rapidly flowering hibiscus in my front yard, making our yard all together very tropical looking. These palms are the easiest thing in the world to grow, not needing any tender loving care in our area to look absolutely lush and beautiful.

If you are looking for a reasonably priced, fast-growing palm that is beautiful, I would highly recommend the Foxtail Palm!

Ours made it through one of the coldest winters on record in Houston. First an ice storm and them 3 days below freezing. It was even 25...Read More degrees for hours with hard winds. We wrapped the trunk with insulation and had Christmas lights under it. The leaves got damaged badly but it has already grown two new fronds and a third one the way. We also had several days where it got below freezing for short periods of time which seem to cause no damage. Weather like this is very unusual in Houston so I expect it will do fine in the future. There are several in the community.

This palm is a tree everyone should want in there landscape. If you live in a warm climate, this palm is really easy to grow, and when it...Read More is established in its environment, it is surprisingly fast growing; 2 to 3 feet a year! The foxtail palm is also very attractive. The blooms are very showy and the fruit is an colorful orange color that captures alot of attention.

I've been experimenting with palm trees near Sacramento, Ca. I love topical plants, but a real novice to gardening. I planted the foxta...Read Moreil in May and it looked ok all summer long, but this winter has been very cold. Way to cold for this tree. All the branches have turned brown and I'm afraid that it didn't make it. I like to see what happens this spring but I doubt it made it and probably pull it out. That's the way it goes.--- March 14th, I pulled up my foxtail (froze to death) and I liked it so much I bought another one and replanted it. I hope it makes it...

Hollywood,FL
I've planted several foxtail palm 2 years ago.After hurricane wilma one of the palms seems to be dying,new frons are ...Read Moregrowing with brown edges and the trunk is not expanding.All of the other palms are thriving.Could this be some sort of desease and can it be saved

I have four Wodyetias ranging from 1' to 8' in the ground here in Los Altos, CA (9b SF Bay Area) and so far they're all growing moderatel...Read Morey. The growth rate is quite fast during the summer and early fall months and I'm looking forward to them being larger trees. My only complaint is some occasional fungal spotting on horizontal leaves that occurs during our winter rainy seasons.

There is a beatuful specimen of this palm in the San Francisco Bay area, down in Santa Clara. It is surprisingly hardy, because it comes ...Read Morefrom a truly tropical place.

I planted some small foxtail seedlings by my pool here in Phoenix. I would say moderate growers so far, but perhaps when they get older ...Read Morethey will grow faster.

I have seen these in full sun at the Phoenix zoo and a one other place around town. Overall, not commonly grown. The ones at the zoo look beaten up pretty bad. I baby all my plants though. Give them lots of water in Phoenix summer and fertilize in small doses monthly during warm weather.

My foxtails are doing fine so far but for the long term we will have to see.

I have been able to keep this palm alive in Thousand Oaks... but I guess I can't really say I've had success with it... pretty marginal t...Read Morehere.. but in most of So Cal, it does well, especially near the coast. Never gets quite as frilly and plumose as in more humid climates like S Florida or the tropics. Is a VERY fast growing palm in the tropics (not here in Southern California, though), and in Thailand, they can go from seed to a plant producing seed in less than 6 years. Just 10 years ago it was considered a rare plant, and was endangered in the wild (N Australia), and exporting the seed was nearly impossible. But now it is one of the most commonly cultivated palms in the world.

This species is one of the few truly heat hardy crownshafted palms... most palms with a crownshaft cannot tolerate dry, hot climates... but this one, along with Royals, Pseudophoenix and Hyophorbes seem to like the heat. So if you live in the desert, this might be a good species for you.

Recently it has been found to be quite easy to hybridize this palm with several other species (Vetchia and Carpentaria) for some spectacular crosses. The former cross actually performs better in cooler climates than do either of the parent species.

Foxtail palm is one of many major landscape palms in southwest Florida. They are often planted as two- and three-stem specimens. And thei...Read Morer distinctive fronds make them living, breathing "conversation pieces"--in an interest class with christmas palms, bottle palms, and sealing wax palms.