Chamaedorea ernesti-augusti
Exquisite foliage palm for shady understory planting and containers. Picturesce fish tail leaves over a thin trunk. Slow grower.

Seen in Palms for Tight Spaces →


| 2–5ft | |
| 2–3ft | |
| Cool Summers, Fog, Pots | |
| Moderate – High | |
This palm should be watered deeply every week or two once it's established. It doesn't want to ever dry out completely. | |
| 30°F | |
| Full Shade – Part Shade | |
| Palm, Solitary, Tropical, Trunking | |
| Outdoor | |
| In Ground: Cactus Mix, In Pots: Cactus Mix, Tolerates Sandy Soil | |
| Palm Fertilizer | |
| Central America | |
| No | |
| 17, 21–23 | |
Growing Notes
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.
This solitary palm will grow only one trunk during its lifetime. If you have a pot with multiple trunks in it, that's because multiple separate palm trees were germinated in the pot. The good news is that you won't need to thin out suckers over time to maintain the number of trunks you started out with.
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.
Special Interest
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.
Stories featuring this plant
Garden storyPalms for Tight SpacesThere are many challenges when planting a garden, including considering damage to retaining walls, sidewalks, foundations, and underground utilities. Often the easiest way to overcome these tricky spots is planting small plants that won’t have a large impact on nearby infrastructure. But what if you need a larger, more substantial element?
Garden storyThe Ultimate Guide to Growing Palm Trees in Coastal CaliforniaWe can grow many kinds of palms in our coastal California gardens — palm trees, shrubby palms, bamboo palms, little foliage palms — lucky us! Our guide to everything palm has all the info you need to make the best selections for your garden.
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The above information reflects the observations of Grubb and Nadler and our extended plant community. We always consider input from fellow horticulturists and welcome feedback from those with additional information on the culture of this plant.
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