Beaucarnea recurvata

We used to live down the street from a very nice local plant nursery. While we all frequented this establishment, purchasing various supplies and new additions to our gardens, it was also a favorite neighborhood pastime to go 'dumpster diving' to see what they might have tossed out that we might nurse back to health!
One day a neighbor discovered this specimen of Ponytail Palm. She new i would find it interesting so she presented it to me one day on the street. Clearly it had lost its terminal shoot through some sort of mishap, hence it being discarded. I ended up planting it in a public garden where I was a volunteer, along side another, larger, more symmetrical specimen. It was already forming multiple new crowns and made an interesting 'bushy' accent to it larger brother.
Years later, it is starting to catch up in height and is also the first specimen to start flowering!! It was a real treat to see the flowers so close at hand (these plants get very tall and the flowers are always at the top), just head-high. The day I saw it many people also stopped to get a closer look.
Beaucarnea recurvata, native to Mexico (Tamaulipas, Veracruz, San Luis Potosí), is a member of the Agavaceae, related to Yuccas and Century Plants. A well established specimen is very drought tolerant requires little care. Their bases become very broad and swollen, giving rise to the name Bottle Palm. There are some amazing specimens in the Huntington Garden in San Marino next to Pasadena, CA. Too seldom planted in the SF Bay Area, where this one is growing.
My Spanish is not good enough to understand this Mexican video, but I found the hostess so charming and sweet, I wanted to include it here!