Chilean wine palm cold hardiness

The Chilean wine palm is the massive feather palm people plant when they want a coconut silhouette in a real winter. It is Jubaea chilensis. USDA 8a to 11. It is not Cocos nucifera, and a seedling is not as hardy as the column.

Common Names:
Chilean wine palm, Chile cocopalm, coquito palm, palma chilena.

Scientific Name:
Jubaea chilensis (Molina) Baill.

Origin:
Central Chile, dry hills and coastal ranges. Famous groves sit in La Campana and Palmar de Ocoa. Not a tropical beach.

Appearance:
A solitary pinnate palm with a gray, elephant-thick trunk and a dense coconut-style crown. Dead fronds can hang like a skirt. Fruit is a small coquito nut, not a drinking coconut. Pindo is the shorter gray feather often confused with a young one.

Growth Rate:
Slow. Faster in heat with water, still measured in decades, not seasons.

Max Growth Height:
Often 40 to 60 feet in gardens given time. Wild plants can go toward 80 feet. Girth is the field mark.

Foliage Spread:
Plan 20 to 25 feet for the crown. The trunk wants room too.

Cold Hardiness and Hardiness Zone:
USDA 8a to 11. Mature plants have taken brief readings near 12°F (-11°C), sometimes lower in a dry Chilean or Mediterranean winter. Young plants burn much sooner. Zone 8b is where it starts looking easy. Zone 7b is a science project. Windmill still wins in a colder yard.

Soil Type:
Any well-drained soil. Dry cold is fine. Wet clay in winter is not. It is a Mediterranean hill palm.

Fruit and Flowering:
Monoecious. Small yellow to orange coquito nuts. Edible. You will not harvest drinking coconuts. Tapping the trunk for palm honey is why wild stands crashed.

Can it Grow Indoors:
No, except a seedling in a bright greenhouse. It wants to be a landscape column.

Light Requirements:
Full sun. Shade makes a thin, unhappy plant.

Water Requirements:
Water to establish. Drought-tough once the trunk is there. Extra water in extreme heat keeps the crown greener.

Maintenance Level:
Medium patience, low drama. Feed in the growing season with palm-specific fertilizer. Do not plant it where a queen palm is already a stretch unless you like waiting.

Common Diseases/Pests:
Scale, nutrient yellowing in sand, and palmetto weevil on wounded or stressed plants in the Southeast. Lethal yellowing is a coconut problem; this is still a different genus. Buy clean stock.

Plant Care:
Full sun, drainage, time. Use it in California, Chile, and other dry-summer climates. Hot, wet Gulf summers are a poorer match than a cool Mediterranean winter.

Chilean wine palm Frequently Asked Questions:

1. Is Chilean wine palm a real coconut?
No. It is Jubaea chilensis. Same tribe as coconut, different genus. The nuts are coquitos. The trunk is the size of a barrel, not a pole.

2. How hardy is it compared with windmill and pindo?
It is the hardiest feather palm in common planting. Windmill is still the colder fan. Pindo is shorter and close in the teens F. A mature Jubaea column beats a queen and a coconut by a wide margin.

3. Can I grow it in zone 8a or 7b?
8a is possible with drainage and a plant that already has a trunk. 8b is the comfortable landscape range. 7b is a gamble with protection. A one-gallon seedling is not the hardy tree in the photos.

4. Will it like Florida?
Usually no. It wants a dry summer and a cool winter, not months of wet heat. California and Mediterranean climates are the fit. If a pindo looks miserable in your humidity, this will too.

Plant Chilean wine palm where you wanted a coconut and your winter actually freezes. Bring patience. If you need a palm this year, buy a windmill or a pindo.