Jubaea chilensis (Chilean Wine Palm)

Regarded by many as one of the most impressive palms in the world, Jubaea chilensis (Chilean Wine Palm) is a slow-growing evergreen palm with a huge and massive gray trunk supporting a dense crown of 40-50 gracefully arching featherlike leaves. Each pinnate gray-green leaf is up to 15 ft. long (450 cm), and divided into many narrow, rigid leaflets. The thick columnar trunk, up to 3 ft. across (90 cm), is the biggest of any palms. It is often swollen above its base. Jubaea chilensis is a monoecious species, meaning that one tree has both male and female flowers. Sprays of small, bowl-shaped, purple and yellow flowers are produced in summer on mature trees (50 years old). The flowers give way to large clusters of rounded, edible, yellow fruits, 1 in. across (2.5 cm), with a soft pulp that tastes like coconut. Extremely slow-growing and long-lived (several hundred years), Chilean Wine Palm is also the most cold-hardy feather palm. It can withstand temperatures as low as 7°F (-14°C). Tolerant to cold, moist winters, frost, and drought, Jubaea is widely cultivated in warm temperate regions of the world as a magnificent ornamental. It deserves an adequate space in the garden to thrive and look its best.

• Winner of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society
• Grows with an upright habit up to 60-80 ft. tall (18-24 m) and 20-25 ft. wide (6-8 m).
• Easily grown in fertile, moist, well-drained soils in full sun. Drought tolerant once established.
• Chilean Wine Palm performs very well as a houseplant in a loam-based compost in full sun.
• No serious disease or pest issues. Keep an eye out for glasshouse red spider mite.
• Minimal pruning required – remove dead leaves by cutting close to the leaf base leaving stubs to create a neat pattern.
• Propagate by seed sown at not less than 77°F (25ºC). Germination may take three to six months
• Native to Central Chile.