PlantFiles: Pindo Palm, Wine Palm, Jelly Palm
Butia capitata

I have two of these planted in my yard here in the Appalachian mountains of Georgia. One was a 5 gallon plant when I put it in a few years ago- it has survived down to 11F and numerous other overnight lows in the teens and low twenties. This one is protected by a simple plastic film and wood frame enclosure.

The other palm was planted last year and was a 10 gallon plant- this survived last winter's low of 17F with no damage, and protected by the same type of structure as mentioned above.

This palm grows very well in southeastern Virginia. I see them all over when I make trips to Virginia Beach, VA. I personally am growing 5 of these outside in the ground, and they're all doing great. They have had no damage at all, even when we had a temperature of 15°F one night. I never wrap any of them in the winter, and they do fine here.

Butia capitata sometimes may become Butia decapitata on very cold winters if the cold persists (usually from effects of continuous spray of "chemtrails"), so you can pull the central shoot out, but it always grows back in the spring and summer. The last winter a lot of Butias got badly damaged by extensive moderate cold temps, though not record cold. I even saw one about 5 foot tall that seems completely dead since even in June it shows no signs of regrowth and that is in zone 8A/8B! Definitely some work of the "dragon cloud" masters....

nice palm but is sensative to moist cold freezes, i live in columbus ms a low zone 8a and i left it unprotected in a 22 deg freeze with no help and it about died, as the months went by it kept getting more dead looking until finally the spear came out and i thought it was dead, but there were two green leaves on the outside, 2.5 months later i went to look at my dead tree and the spear had regrown, now the plant has five new leaves in the middle and a good spear, it is marginal in my area i would protect under twenty five from moist freezes and plant in a sheltered area, but overall a good tree

Tried it here in the mountains of Virginia, zone 7a / 6b border, didn't make it, even planted close to the house...G

As already said, this is one of the most popular palms in the deep south. Unfortunately many people plant these palms too close to driveways and walkways and are then forced to prune them for clearance. Give these palms plenty of room to spread because they look best when their fronds can gracefully droop to the ground. I have also noticed that the fronds are much larger when in partial shade.

Very cold hardy and robust plant. I left my 2 year old palm outside last winter with no protection at all and it made it one night through 5 degrees with only minor leaf burn. I cut the brown off and new leaves emerged in spring. It is growing stronger each year and extremely pretty to look at. Have transplanted it several times with no damage at all. It's very easy to dig up.

Pindo palm grows well throughout Las Vegas and can be found from residential landscapes down through the "Strip."
Grows much better than a queen palm with fewer problems for desert gardening. One of the few pinnate (feather) type fronds hardy in Las Vegas besides most types of phoenix date palm.

Pindos are one of the most popular palms here in Gulf Coast Alabama, since they handle our occasional light freezes very well with no damage to the fronds. Mine is planted in full sun and has a nice silver-green tint.

I had an old Jelly Palm in my front yard in Green Cove Springs, FL. I found the fruit to be very delicious despite being very smelly. It tastes like a combination of orange, pineapple and banana. It is very drought tolerant, and easy to care for. The only down side is that it retains its leaf bases for a LONG time, and they can become infested with carpenter ants. They don't appear to harm the tree, but having a nest close to your house is never good.

One other use this palm isn't given credit for is that it's a great container palm. Easy to grow in a manageable sized pot for decades,looking something like a big pineapple as it ages. A hardy potted palm too-immune to any amount of California cold.In sun the fronds are short,curved, and can be grey-to silvery.That very same palm can have lacy,green,glossy fronds in shade. And very forgiving of a missed watering or two,-or three-ha.

A great palm, but more variable than most: some are completely green and others are silvery; some are short and squat, while others are more slender with sharply recurved leaves. The fruit is very sweet and makes good jelly, but a healthy tree will produce about 100lbs. a year in my area. In sand, the seed will germinate like ryegrass.

Hello I love this palm! Your probably saying in Chicago yeah right! I have several palms in my yard Micro climate without protection is z7. With protection its zone 8. This palm has been in the ground working on year 2. Never had any cold damage what so ever, likes to be completely dry all winter. I do this with a simple clear plastic cover all winter to keep rain and wind and snow out.

What a beautiful Palm. I have 10 plants about 5- 7 feet tall. Very cold hardy. We got down to the high teens this winter in Northern California and there was NO sign of any damage. A very slooooow growing palm here but I love it.... The blue color on my really stand out..

Abundant and highly popular for landscapes in North Florida but it is outnumbered by the cabbage palmetto. They have lots of the orange fruit which people claim is edible. The leaves appear to have a bluish tint which makes the jelly palm stand out from other palms.

I was glad to see many plantings of the Jelly in southern Georgia and northern Florida. It seems to be very popular throughout the deep south. There are hundreds of markets throughout the south that sell the fruit of Butia capitata as fruits of jellies. It seems to be popular because it is the most cold hardy of pinnate leafed palms. It provides another palm tree for the south besides Sabal palmetto. I always enjoy seeing this beautiful specimen, which is very cold hardy!

This palm is also popular in the Southwest and Texas, as well as Florida, where it is commonly grown along avenues and in landscaping. It makes a unique specimen plant due to its blue-green leaves that are strongly recurving. Though it is not a fast palm, it is one of the fastest growing palms for Southern California. It is also an easy palm to dig and move, handling abuse quite well. This species is also commonly hybridized with several other species of palm, notably the Chilean Wine Palm (Jubaea chilensis) and the Queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana) creating very hardy and ornamental palms. It is one of the few species of palm that seems to grow equally well on the east coast as it does on the west coast... probably the hardiest of all the pinnate leaved (feather-leaved) palms.

2010 Noblick and Lorenzi have researched Butia and Syagrus extensively recently and have concluded that the plant we all know as Butia capitata is actually Butia odorata, and the REAL Butia capitata is a shorter, rarer plant, extremely rare in cultivation. Name change officially pending for now, though

This palm is very cold hardy and can handle temps in the mid to upper teens (14 F min. temp). The seeds are yellow to brownish red in color. The fruit has a sweet tart flavor and can be used to make jelly hince the name jelly palm. The seed can also be used to make an imitation of coffee. I am attempting to germinate seed now with pete moss and vermiculite. They are very popular on the central west coast of Florida where I like. USDA zone 9a.