On the potting bench dypsis confusa spindle x bottle Johannesteijsmannia Altifrons

[happypalms]

A nice little parcel arrived today. With a couple of interesting varieties. Iam not a fan of hybrid palms but the only one I have in my garden is a spindle x bottle aka silver lady. So when the opportunity came to grab a few I thought why not get a few more for the garden. Along with a few dypsis confusa and a some Ernest augustii seedlings and a little batch of dypsis faneva and f seed one prestonia seeds a welcome little present. Some will be donated to the botanical gardens and a few for the home garden. And the usual Joey Altifrons got potted up I have a few more hundred to pot up so I will just pick at them as time goes bye. 

[Harry’s Palms]

Good job untangling and separating those . Harry

[happypalms]

  On 4/1/2025 at 9:54 AM, Harry’s Palms said:

Good job untangling and separating those . Harry

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It’s easy you just kinda tickle them out. The more you fuss over them the more damage you do. 
Richard

[richnorm]

I have been growing a Silver Lady for maybe 15 years as a houseplant in winter and out for the warmer months.  I am tempted to leave it out this year.  What temperatures does your one see?  Previously I lost a Spindle and Foxtail with the same experiment  and last year my Bottle suffered inside the house when we went away for a couple of months and left the heating off!

[happypalms]

  On 4/2/2025 at 7:30 PM, richnorm said:

I have been growing a Silver Lady for maybe 15 years as a houseplant in winter and out for the warmer months.  I am tempted to leave it out this year.  What temperatures does your one see?  Previously I lost a Spindle and Foxtail with the same experiment  and last year my Bottle suffered inside the house when we went away for a couple of months and left the heating off!

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I have a few planted on my property. They take temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius maybe down to 0 degrees Celsius every ten years or so my area gets the odd black frost. Depends on how rare your palm is to you but definitely hybrids are tougher. Another factor is how big your palm is obviously the bigger the palm the better it takes the cold. 

[richnorm]

Probably the only example in NZ but what the heck, there's no other way to find out what's possible.

[happypalms]

  On 4/2/2025 at 11:28 PM, richnorm said:

Probably the only example in NZ but what the heck, there's no other way to find out what's possible.

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I do the same if have a hundred plants of the same varietie I plant them not really worried. Different story with my six sabinara magnifica do I date plant one in the ground? I had one marojeyja darinii took the risk and planted it in the garden it has survived 3 winters in the greenhouse now it’s in the ground all I can do is protect the leaves, but if the soil is too cold and wet it’s going to hurt losing it. Decisions decisions they say. Only one way to find out leave it outside protected and see what happens to the leaves if only minor burn after winter you know what you got in the way of cold tolerance. 

[richnorm]

  On 4/3/2025 at 2:16 AM, happypalms said:

I do the same if have a hundred plants of the same varietie I plant them not really worried. Different story with my six sabinara magnifica do I date plant one in the ground? I had one marojeyja darinii took the risk and planted it in the garden it has survived 3 winters in the greenhouse now it’s in the ground all I can do is protect the leaves, but if the soil is too cold and wet it’s going to hurt losing it. Decisions decisions they say. Only one way to find out leave it outside protected and see what happens to the leaves if only minor burn after winter you know what you got in the way of cold tolerance. 

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Soil temperature here goes down to maybe 13c so root temperatures will be higher in a planted palm than one one potted in the shadehouse.  I have Hyophorbe indica doing well here so perhaps it's not as reckless as it might seem.  I don't have a greenhouse but do have a covered verandah which might be a good compromise.  Spindle and Foxtail did well there.

[happypalms]

  On 4/3/2025 at 2:28 AM, richnorm said:

Soil temperature here goes down to maybe 13c so root temperatures will be higher in a planted palm than one one potted in the shadehouse.  I have Hyophorbe indica doing well here so perhaps it's not as reckless as it might seem.  I don't have a greenhouse but do have a covered verandah which might be a good compromise.  Spindle and Foxtail did well there.

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Oh well if they do alright you’re silver lady should be fine. Remember a good indicator for a palm is look at its cousin in genus. If one particular species is doing ok then it should hold for the  rest not all but it gives some hope who they are related to. A bit like an Eskimo from Canada getting a job in Siberia they will be fine in the cold. 

[peachy]

I searched for years for a Silver Lady, finally found one, paid far more than I could afford at the time and when it arrived, it was the sickest looking palm I had ever seen. Fast forward 7 years and it was a glorious thing (after 2 years of intensive care) and it broke my heart when I had to leave it behind when I moved.  If indica will live for you @richnorm then so will Silver lady.  Sorry about this @happypalms but Silver lady is a hybrid of the Champagne bottle palm (H indica) and a Bottle palm (h lagenicaulis). For me they needed very regular watering and a good feeding regime.

Peachy

[happypalms]

  On 4/3/2025 at 12:22 PM, peachy said:

I searched for years for a Silver Lady, finally found one, paid far more than I could afford at the time and when it arrived, it was the sickest looking palm I had ever seen. Fast forward 7 years and it was a glorious thing (after 2 years of intensive care) and it broke my heart when I had to leave it behind when I moved.  If indica will live for you @richnorm then so will Silver lady.  Sorry about this @happypalms but Silver lady is a hybrid of the Champagne bottle palm (H indica) and a Bottle palm (h lagenicaulis). For me they needed very regular watering and a good feeding regime.

Peachy

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Iam sure I could donate one to the peachy pooches and kitty kat retirement home. So a free one or two for you it is when I can get  them to you. Interesting that the silver lady is a indica x thanks for the information all those years of thinking it was a verschaffeltii, argh the brain is not what it used to be perhaps A-I has a solution for lack of data space in the brain.

Richard