He knows exactly
What he likes.
Of course we'll tell you.
Location
George appreciates a bright location.
01
lots of light
Nurture
Don't water it until the soil feels dry. You can simply cut back dried, brown shoots or remove them completely. During the growing season (spring and summer), he likes to have some fertiliser every two weeks.
02
0.5dl per week
Temperature
George tolerates heat in summer just as well as cooler temperatures in winter. He likes to overwinter in cooler locations, although these should not fall below 10 degrees.
03
Beaucarnea is a symbol of strength and stamina. George is able to regenerate himself over and over again.
Symbolism, colors & shapes
Beaucarnea is a symbol of strength and stamina. The name is a combination of the words “Beau” (beautiful) and “carneia”, the title for a harvest festival in Greek mythology that is celebrated throughout Europe, among others. It addresses the primal power of the plant, which can regenerate itself over and over again. The plant owes the German name “Elefantenfuss” to its wide root tuber, which is certainly similar to the feet of a pachyderm.
An elephant's foot doesn't actually look like a houseplant at all, but more like a small tree: A straight trunk grows out of a strong tuber, which is crowned by a funny curly head of oblong leaves that are arranged in a rosette shape. Officially, this is a flowering plant, but Beaucarnea rarely blooms indoors and when it does, the flowers are very inconspicuous. The indoor tree stands out not only for its distinctive silhouette, but also for its stamina: The plant grows slowly but steadily and can withstand a lot of things. If you forget to water it, it's not particularly bad. The plant stores water in the tuber and trunk so that it can survive in dry phases. In this way, the elephant foot partially takes care of itself, making it very suitable for plant care beginners.
Origin
Although the elephant foot is often mistaken for a palm tree, the plant comes from the asparagus family. It is native to the southern United States and South America. Here, the fun-loving plant grows to a tree size of a good eight meters high and one meter in diameter: In Mexico, there are elephant foot plants that are already 350 years old. When grown indoors, the plants become less large, but they can still develop into stately indoor trees. Just make sure that the leaves can hang down freely, because if they come into contact with the wall, a cupboard or a curtain, they can turn brown. By the way, this also happens when humidity is low.
