Now that's one massive Ponytail Palm. Thanks for the photo Elfie!
Kinda makes me rethink the one I have in the ground in the back yard. It's about five ft. tall right now and looks great, but it may turn out to be much too close to the house in 20-30 years.. Oh, well. That'll be someone else's problem!
drdawg-... Ken, I'd just keep enjoying your Ponytails the way you want. They are regularly grown as houseplants up north and can handle a fair amount of shade. I have another one growing on another part of the property that is the same age as the one in the back yard. It is surrounded by tall trees, so sees very little sun. It's a foot taller and looks just as good if not better.
It's not like they do anything spectacular like cover themselves with huge multicolor blooms if grown in the sun. They look exactly the same, except the leaves are a bit darker green in the shade.
On another note, these were originally three plants in a 4" pot. I wonder what they would look like now if I hadn't separated them, but planted them out just as they were in the pot.
Now I'm kinda wishing I hadn't separated them!