Chamaedorea costaricana

bamboo palm
Bamboo palm. Fast, upright grower. Excellent for the fog belt. Nice in a pot. Tolerates morning or late PM sun at maturity. Fragrant flowers, showy black fruit on orange stalks.
Chamaedorea costaricanaChamaedorea costaricanaChamaedorea costaricana
height 6–18ft
width 6–10ft
tolerates Cool Summers, Deer , Narrow Planting, Pots
water
needs		 Moderate
water
info		 This palm should be watered deeply every week or two once it’s established. It doesn’t want to ever dry out completely.
hardy
to		 28F
exposure Full Shade – Part Shade
indoor
outdoor		 Outdoor
drainage In Ground: Cactus Mix, In Pots: Cactus Mix, Tolerates Sandy Soil
fertilizing All Purpose, Palm Fertilizer
origin Central America
california
native		 No
sunset
zones		 16, 17, 21–H2

Sunset Zones Map

Outdoor Exposure Guide

Growing Notes

It can take some morning sun or afternoon sun, but shade is its fave. It’s not one for frosty inland valleys, but should do fine in protected spots in warm-summer places like Palo Alto or Marin, where it won’t reach lower than 28F. Not great indoors.
Palms are generally heavy feeders, so if you want them growing quickly and looking their best, they should be fertilized at least three times a year. Fertilizing at spring equinox, summer solstice and fall equinox will allow for a winter rest. Be sure to feed your palm with a fertilizer that contains micronutrients, especially if you see yellowing leaves or yellow spots on the leaves. Be sure your palm fertilizer contains micronutrients, particularly magnesium.
Suckering palms like this one send out additional palm trunks from the base of the palm over time, so that you’ll end up with multiple trunks on one palm. If you want fewer trunks, go ahead and thin out the suckers; just be sure to do it when they are young to avoid unsightly scarring later on.
You can prune off older chamaedorea leaves when they start to look ratty, or wait until they are completely dried up. Either way, once the leaf sheath (the part of the leaf that wraps around the trunk of the palm) dries up, you can just pull it right off, exposing the green trunk. Once this is done, your palm trunks will resemble bamboo canes, which is what gives this palm one of its common names: the bamboo palm.
With leaves growing in a single plane along most of the rachis, the feather palm has an elegant look to it.

Special Interest

Low maintenance bamboo substitute.

This palm’s juicy lush look is an absolute must-have when creating a tropical garden in a temperate climate. Mix it with other broad-leafed flowering plants like cannas, hedychiums, philodendrons, or monsteras.

Chamaedorea costaricana is the fastest, most fog-loving of the species we grow.