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Our Blue
Ribbon
June
Palm of the Month
Butia capitata:
Pindo
Palm/Jelly Palm
Want to feel more
"tropical", but live in Zone 8? What to do? You can look no further
than the Pindo Palm to make your "cool landscape" (cool as in temperatures!),
look like  it has been directly transported straight from
Tahiti! Well, a little, at least! Let's find out more about
Butia capitata, friends!
The pindo has the
admirable quality of EXCEPTIONAL cold tolerance (being hardy to 5 degrees F.), and a form
and colouration that will satisfy even the most demanding exterior designer, with curving,
arching blue-green fronds, in the "classic" feather-duster arrangement. It
is, in fact, the hardiest of the feather fronded palms!
Friends, if you happen to
live in Dallas, TX; Montgomery, AL; Charlotte, NC; Virginia Beach, VA; or Seattle, WA try
this lovely palm. If snow happens to fall on it, it's all the more striking!
Damage: none at all! You've got a Pindo Palm; it doesn't need a winter
overcoat, like you!
The pindo's grace will never get out of
character either as its mature height is only about 15 feet tall. It needs plenty of
water until established (its first two years) but after that, other than a once a year
feeding with a "palm special" plant food, it is set for the rest of its 80 year
lifespan. Full sun, or partial shade, does fine for this noble and trouble-free
specimen! If the temperatures are likely to fall below  5
degrees F., just cover with burlap, or several layers of your oldest cotton bedroom sheets
overnight; remove in the morning, after your area temperatures have risen above
freezing; your pindo palm will be just fine!
Enjoy your sentinel of the tropics;
your neighbours are sure to envy the unique, and "exotic" look you've created,
and you just might feel a bit warmer that do they, in mid-winter, just when a palm in your
landscape can really convey "life" and warm comfort!
For these reasons, and more, (such as a
delicious fruit jelly made from the pindo's flesh surrounding its seeds, hence the
alternative name), "The Wise Gardener", in all his wisdom, has very proudly
selected Butia capitata, PINDO PALM, the Blue Ribbon Palm for June!! Plant them in
Zones 8 through 10 and admire your palm for years to come!
Note: Photograph courtesy of Betrock's:
"Guide to Landscape Palms" by Dr. Alan W. Meerow
Paul,"The
Wise Gardener!"
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