Butia

Here it is

 

We used to grow butia palms in then garden (the names have all been reclassified and most nurseries still go by the old names but not always). We grew B capitata, B odorata, and B eriospatha.

For most of the UK they are not a long term palm, certainly Mowgley your area is not going to be warm enough for it to be anything other than a temporary addition to your garden, you may get 5 winters from it or you may lose it the first winter its planted out. You need to consider that risk.

If you are able to pot grow and move it into a frost free place for winter it will last a lot longer, but will quickly need a big pot.

Of the ones we grew, the largest was a B capitata that had about 50cm or so of good thick trunk. It got through the first bad winter but subsequently died.

We do still have a B eriospatha thats alive, it was a small plant and limped though the various winters but to be honest its an ugly thing that I should have put out of its misery. However B eriospatha is the best bet for a Butia in the UK, and if you can put it in a sheltered spot and are prepared to protect it well in a bad winter then a good sized one may do well for you.

There are many tropical looking plants that are much hardier than Butia.

Its worth a punt, but dont spend more than you can afford to lose the first winter.

 

Thx @Tropical_Gaz for your detailed post.
Mine will be grown in a pot and brought into the GH for the colder months.
It's not broke the bank cost at £35

 

From palm centre?

 

Yep

 

I see the Palm Centre has a 50% discount on Butias at the moment.

 

Good quality plants too.

 

I was thinking of buying one.
But in the end, decided to pass.
Although the discount is tempting, don't really want to get one in the middle of winter.

 

I bought a Butia Cap 5 years ago on a visit to the Palm Centre, nice plant but it suffered damage to two fronds in the 2010 winter and again in '11 so there are three damaged fronds ruining the arched effect the lower fronds give this palm. I planted it two years ago when we moved here and it has only throw out one new spear, I don't think it will ever make a decent specimen. It only gets the sun for half of the day which probably doesn't help.

 

I bought mine from B&Q about five years ago.
I remember it well because it had been minus five the night before and the pot was frozen solid, but it was half price, so I took the gamble.
I must admit I've given it frost protection since then, but its been grown on very hard with no heat, just put in the dark garage each winter once the real cold set in, for the minimum period.

I planted it out last spring and it grew about three new fronds last summer.
Its got overhead protection from too much rain getting into the crown just now, but with the mild weather, I'm not sure that is necessary at the moment.
It remains to be seen how the rest of the winter shapes up, but I've found the last few years that even Washingtonia is fairly hardy if you can keep the water out of the crown.

 

I was at some of the garden centres in Crews Hill this weekend.
One of them had a Butia with 30cm+ of stem for £55 (currently one for the same size at the Palm Centre is £120), so I couldn't say no.

I will give it some winter protection, so here's hoping......

 

I'm still debating whether to put mine in the ground or not.
Not stopped growing since I got though, slowly pushing out new spears.

 

I've been there and done that.
At the end of the day it has no real future in a pot, it might not have a future planted out, but at least it has a chance.

 

Mine is definately going to go into the ground.