How to Grow and Care for Areca Palm

Living in a northern climate with long cold winters, I am always looking for dramatic indoor plants to liven up my home.

With its elegant, arching fronds, the areca palm adds a tropical flair to the living room all year long.

Relatively low maintenance, these popular houseplants are nontoxic to dogs and cats, and with the right care will grace your home for many years.

We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Are you ready to welcome an areca palm into your home? Here’s what I’ll cover:

These clumping palms feature multiple stems growing from the base and soft, narrow, feathery fronds each with approximately 40 to 60 pairs of leaflets.

They grow about six to ten inches per year and mature plants range from five to eight feet tall when grown indoors.

In USDA Hardiness Zones 10 and above, they can be planted outdoors and can reach up to 30 feet tall at maturity.

Areca palms have several common names, including golden cane, butterfly, yellow, and bamboo palm.

These members of the Arecaceae family are endemic to Madagascar, where they can be found in a very specific habitat of slightly acidic, sandy, rocky soil near the sea.

Dypsis lutescens was previously classified in the now defunct Chrysalidocarpus genus, but this changed in 1995, after an extensive study into Madagascan palms led to the combination of several genera into the Dypsis genus.

These plants have naturalized in a range of subtropical and tropical areas worldwide, and are one of the most common ornamental palms grown in tropical landscapes.

A recipient of the Award of Garden Merit from the RHS in 1993, the areca palm is an