I have a number of palms grown from seed in the garden, the most recent
Butia capita is now starting to feather and about 3' high but it seems very
green, most Butias I have seen have a distinctly grey/blue caste to them, is
this normally for babies or have I ended up with something else?

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cultivars

On 1 Sep, 16:40, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:
I have a number of palms grown from seed in the garden, the most recent
Butia capita is now starting to feather and about 3' high but it seems very
green, most Butias I have seen have a distinctly grey/blue caste to them, is
this normally for babies or have I ended up with something else?

Hullo Charlie. I was on the phone with a friend (he gives me my annual
load of OM) and who's starting to have quite an amazing collection of
palms. He's crazy about them and he is the only one in England who has
such a variety. He just told me that it is likely to be a eriospatha -
not sure why - but both eriospatha and capitata are quite green when
babies, as you thought, and 'can vary' at first.

"La Puce" wrote in message
ups.com...
On 1 Sep, 16:40, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:

Hullo Charlie. I was on the phone with a friend (he gives me my annual
load of OM) and who's starting to have quite an amazing collection of
palms. He's crazy about them and he is the only one in England who has
such a variety. He just told me that it is likely to be a eriospatha -
not sure why - but both eriospatha and capitata are quite green when
babies, as you thought, and 'can vary' at first.


Butia eriospatha is the woolly jelly palm from brazil and is generally
greener and hardier than B. capita, and I would have no idea which I have,
can only say I bought the seed from Chilterns. I shall just have to carry on
growing them until they flower.

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cultivars

On 1 Sep, 19:02, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:
Butia eriospatha is the woolly jelly palm from brazil and is generally
greener and hardier than B. capita, and I would have no idea which I have,
can only say I bought the seed from Chilterns. I shall just have to carry on
growing them until they flower.

That's right, that's what Tom told me, the wooly variety of the pindo
or jelly jam. He wanted a photo - maybe I'll email you and copy Tom on
it. I'm sure he'd like to have some advice on getting a national
collection set up!

Charlie,

Most palms that have blue-green adult leaves tend towards being green
or greenish for the first few years. Butia capitata can be very
silvery blue, but there are forms with very green leaves as well. I
had a superb sea-green 'cap' well over 7 feet high until it was hit by
phytophora a couple of years ago. All Butias are green in the early
stages - even B. yatay, which is probably the most silver of all the
species when mature. 'Blueing' starts to occur after the first few
adult fronds have appeared and the colour may take several more years
to develop fully.

Butia eriospatha is visibly indistinguishable from capitata except
when in flower and I strongly suspect that in time it will be merged
as a variety of capitata. The great advantage of eriospatha is that
it not only grows more freely at lower temperatures, but also seems to
be far more tolerant of winter wet than almost any other Butia making
it the best choice for UK gardens. Whatever species you have, they
are magnificent palms and well worth growing where space allows.

"La Puce" wrote:
I was on the phone with a friend (he gives me my annual
load of OM) and who's starting to have quite an amazing collection of
palms. He's crazy about them and he is the only one in England who has
such a variety. He just told me that it is likely to be a eriospatha -
not sure why - but both eriospatha and capitata are quite green when
babies, as you thought, and 'can vary' at first.

Well, there are quite a few people in the UK growing palms out of
doors in their gardens and some of those have very large collections
of species. My own collection is quite modest with only 50 plants
across 32 different species, including all but 2 hardy enough to be
grown out of doors, but including several not normally considered
hardy enough for the UK. Even the most experienced Butia specialist
in the UK agrees it is almost impossible to distinguish between the
two species unless they are at the flowering stage. The 'green-ness'
of a 3 ft seedling just producing its first adult fronds is not an
indicator.

On 1 Sep, 19:52, Dave Poole wrote:
Butia eriospatha is visibly indistinguishable from capitata except
when in flower and I strongly suspect that in time it will be merged
as a variety of capitata. The great advantage of eriospatha is that
it not only grows more freely at lower temperatures, but also seems to
be far more tolerant of winter wet than almost any other Butia making
it the best choice for UK gardens. Whatever species you have, they
are magnificent palms and well worth growing where space allows.

I'm not a big fan of palms - I like to see them in the south of France
or north Africa - and even further afield would be lovely. But I must
say they do rather look lovely in some gardens in the UK, if there's
the space for them. My friend builts huge raised beds for them made
out of stone and fill them with wood/bark chips. It gets really warm
in there!

Well, there are quite a few people in the UK growing palms out of
doors in their gardens and some of those have very large collections
of species. My own collection is quite modest with only 50 plants
across 32 different species, including all but 2 hardy enough to be
grown out of doors, but including several not normally considered
hardy enough for the UK. Even the most experienced Butia specialist
in the UK agrees it is almost impossible to distinguish between the
two species unless they are at the flowering stage. The 'green-ness'
of a 3 ft seedling just producing its first adult fronds is not an
indicator.

You sound like you have an amazing collection. My friend has them
outside, none are outside. I've no idea how many he has but he told me
it's rare to find a collector with such a variety as him. He might
have been a little bit cockey?! He's a bit like that )

He gave me a beautiful leymus grass and, non relating, a leysteria
formosa because I had a gap in the bed at the back of my house and he
came up with it (knowing I like self seeders because I'm rather lazy).
Thanks for all your info. I've forwarded the lot to my friend.

"La Puce" wrote in message
ups.com...
On 1 Sep, 19:52, Dave Poole wrote:
Butia eriospatha is visibly indistinguishable from capitata except
when in flower and I strongly suspect that in time it will be merged
as a variety of capitata. The great advantage of eriospatha is that
it not only grows more freely at lower temperatures, but also seems to
be far more tolerant of winter wet than almost any other Butia making
it the best choice for UK gardens. Whatever species you have, they
are magnificent palms and well worth growing where space allows.

I'm not a big fan of palms - I like to see them in the south of France
or north Africa - and even further afield would be lovely. But I must
say they do rather look lovely in some gardens in the UK, if there's
the space for them. My friend builts huge raised beds for them made
out of stone and fill them with wood/bark chips. It gets really warm
in there!

Well, there are quite a few people in the UK growing palms out of
doors in their gardens and some of those have very large collections
of species. My own collection is quite modest with only 50 plants
across 32 different species, including all but 2 hardy enough to be
grown out of doors, but including several not normally considered
hardy enough for the UK. Even the most experienced Butia specialist
in the UK agrees it is almost impossible to distinguish between the
two species unless they are at the flowering stage. The 'green-ness'
of a 3 ft seedling just producing its first adult fronds is not an
indicator.

snip
.. My friend has them
outside, none are outside.

Is it cos I is am french?

"La Puce" wrote in message
ps.com...
On 1 Sep, 19:02, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:
Butia eriospatha is the woolly jelly palm from brazil and is generally
greener and hardier than B. capita, and I would have no idea which I
have,
can only say I bought the seed from Chilterns. I shall just have to
carry on
growing them until they flower.

That's right, that's what Tom told me, the wooly variety of the pindo
or jelly jam. He wanted a photo - maybe I'll email you and copy Tom on
it. I'm sure he'd like to have some advice on getting a national
collection set up!

am happy to talk to your friend re national collections but must ask that
you point out I know next to nothing about palms!
I don't think at this young stage a photo of my little Butias would help
anyone too very much but I think your friend indicated and David has
confirmed what I wanted to know - that they tend to be green when young.

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cultivars

On 2 Sep, 23:50, "Rupert \(W.Yorkshire\)"
wrote:
outside, none are outside.
Is it cos I is am french?

Could be! Sorry I meant none are grown inside off course.

On 3 Sep, 11:18, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:
am happy to talk to your friend re national collections but must ask that
you point out I know next to nothing about palms!
I don't think at this young stage a photo of my little Butias would help
anyone too very much but I think your friend indicated and David has
confirmed what I wanted to know - that they tend to be green when young.

Great - just great. I will email you and copy Tom. And thank you!

On 3 Sep, 12:09, "Uncle Marvo"
wrote:
No, you meant "of course"
:-))

put tongue out ;o)

In reply to ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

On 2 Sep, 23:50, "Rupert \(W.Yorkshire\)"
wrote:
outside, none are outside.
Is it cos I is am french?

Could be! Sorry I meant none are grown inside off course.

No, you meant "of course"




:-))