Parlour and Bamboo Palms (Chamaedorea)

How to choose a parlour palm

The Parlour Palm, Chamaedorea elegans, is the classic indoor palm. It has a slender single stem and soft, arching fronds, and it usually stays between 1 and 2 metres indoors after many years. It is commonly grown with several plants in one pot for a fuller look, and it tolerates lower light than the others.

The Bamboo Palm Tree, Chamaedorea seifrizii, forms a clump of thin, ringed canes like bamboo and reaches 2 to 3 metres. Choose it where you want height, for example to screen a corner or soften a tall wall. The Cascade Palm is a trunkless, clumping palm with dense dark green fronds. It comes from stream banks and likes more moisture than the rest. The Hooperiana Palm is a clumping Chamaedorea for shaded gardens and big pots.

Where parlour palms work

Indoors, place them in bright indirect light to low light: near a south or east facing window, back from a northern one, or in a well lit office. Direct sun through glass bleaches and burns the fronds. Keep them away from heaters.

Outdoors they need full shade and shelter from wind. They grow in the ground in frost free subtropical and tropical gardens, under trees or on the shaded side of a house, and on covered patios in warm temperate areas. Frost damages them, so in cooler climates keep them as indoor plants. Browse more options among our low light indoor plants and indoor plants, or see the wider range of palm trees.

Planting and spacing

Use a good quality potting mix that drains freely, in a pot with drainage holes. These palms have fine roots and are content to be slightly pot bound, so repot only every two or three years, in spring, into a container one size larger. Do not divide a pot of Parlour Palms: the stems are separate plants and resent root disturbance.

In the garden, plant in spring or early summer into soil improved with compost. Space Bamboo Palms about a metre apart for a soft screen and Cascade Palms 80 centimetres to a metre apart for a massed understorey. Mulch well.

Care basics

Water when the top few centimetres of mix feel dry, and empty the saucer afterwards. Keep the mix evenly moist in the warm months and drier in winter, when growth slows. The Cascade Palm is the exception and should not be allowed to dry out. Feed with a diluted liquid fertiliser or a light dose of slow release fertiliser in spring and summer.

Brown leaf tips are usually caused by dry air or by salts in tap water building up in the pot. Flush the pot thoroughly with water every few months, use rainwater if you can, and trim only the brown tip. Remove whole fronds once they have yellowed completely. Watch for spider mite and mealybug in warm, dry rooms.

Common questions

Can a parlour palm live in low light?

Yes. It is among the most shade tolerant indoor palms, though it grows faster and fuller in bright indirect light.

How tall does a parlour palm get?

Usually 1 to 2 metres indoors, over many years. Bamboo Palm grows taller, to 2 or 3 metres.

Why are the tips of my palm turning brown?

Dry air, irregular watering or a build up of salts from tap water and fertiliser. Flush the pot and keep watering even.

Can parlour palms grow outside?

Yes, in full shade in frost free subtropical and tropical gardens, or in a pot on a sheltered patio.