My potted bottle palm in ocala

[Palmlover.]

So this is my 2 y/o bottle palm the survived two winters here proving that they can grow in 9a 

[lzorrito]

1 hour ago, Palmlover. said:

So this is my 2 y/o bottle palm the survived two winters here proving that they can grow in 9a

Hi! That's a Hyophorbe verscheffeltii, not a Hyophorbe lagenicaulis (Bottle Palm). Your H. verscheffeltii is much hardy than H. lagenicaulis...

Edited September 6, 2020 by lzorrito

[Palmlover.]

On 9/6/2020 at 10:26 AM, lzorrito said:

Hi! That's a Hyophorbe verscheffeltii, not a Hyophorbe lagenicaulis (Bottle Palm). Your H. verscheffeltii is much hardy than H. lagenicaulis...

Thanks when I bought it the guy was a palm expert and said its a Hyophorbe legenicaulis

[lzorrito]

6 minutes ago, Palmlover. said:

Thanks when I bought it the guy was a palm expert and said its a Hyophorbe legenicaulis

You're welcome! It happens a lot, it also happened to me. Sellers sometimes tend to...well, never mind. With time you'll know how distinguish palms, you'll see. BTW, that's a very nice Spindle palm (H. verscheffeltii )you got there! Take good care of it. Also got one, and it's doing great.

Here's a pic of my Hyophorbe lagenicaulis (bottle palm), taken today: 

And my Hyophorbe verscheffeltii:

[Palmlover.]

1 hour ago, lzorrito said:

You're welcome! It happens a lot, it also happened to me. Sellers sometimes tend to...well, never mind. With time you'll know how distinguish palms, you'll see. BTW, that's a very nice Spindle palm (H. verscheffeltii )you got there! Take good care of it. Also got one, and it's doing great.

Here's a pic of my Hyophorbe lagenicaulis (bottle palm), taken today: 

And my Hyophorbe verscheffeltii:

Nice!Their very healthy.

[palmsOrl]

I have observed that Hyophorbe lagencaulis is more cold hardy than once believed when it was still an unusual "connoisseur" palm 15-30 years ago.  That is not to say it tolerates freezing temperatures, but healthy, larger specimens can survive light freezes to around 28F-29F with complete defoliation.

In my experience, Hyophorbe verschaffeltii is marginally more cold hardy than lagencaulis (maybe by 1-2F).  Either way, keep that baby in a pot so you can bring it in when freezing temperatures are forecast.  It will take a long time to get large enough to be difficult to manage in a large pot or tub, so you should be able to keep up-potting it as needed for quite some time and you can use a dolly to help move it once it is too heavy to easily move otherwise.

After the January 2010 freeze and incessant cold during that month and some of February, my H. verschaffeltii appeared to be a goner, so when I went out one day to remove all of the palms that had died, I took a saw to it (it was about 8 feet tall) and found the insides to be intact and free of rot or necrotic tissue.  Had I poured hydrogen peroxide around the emerging spear, which was brown, it might have pulled through.

-Michael

[Merlyn]

The easiest way to tell the difference between Bottle and Spindle is the rachis color when young.  Bottles (H. Lagencaulis) have a pink-reddish color to the rachis, and Spindles (H. Verschaffeltii) are yellow-green.

I haven't noticed a dramatic difference in hardiness on mine, yet.  But I planted the Bottles in more protected areas, i.e. closer to the house and protected from NW winds.  Most have only been in the ground about a year here in NW Orlando, and last winter was pretty mild.  I have 11 Bottles and 8 Spindles right now, which is probably waaaaaay too many of them.  But I just couldn't resist adopting the Lowe's bargain bin ones last spring...