This rather attractive palm from New Zealand is pretty much unheard of in the UK. Like most plants from this part of the world they are somewhat tricky to grow. I have discovered the following about them through experimentation throughout the last Summer and Winter.
They will only push out new leaves if the temperature isn’t too hot, why I have no idea? In fact the cooler it is the faster they seem to grow. During the Winter my 2 small examples of this palm continued to grow a new leaf (yeh they are THAT slow growing)... this was in very wet temperatures of -2. I am too scared to leave them out anything below that this year as they are so hard to come by.
When small - at least - they do not like the sun, they prefer cool, damp shade... just like ferns. If you put them in the sun then they get very upset and refuse to grow. Also, keeping them in the house is awkward as the dryness of indoors will cause them to quickly go brown and shrivel up. If you must keep them indoors you will need to mist them every day. Your best option is to keep them outside until the temperatures get too low and keep toggling them in and out as temperatures rise and fall.
Unlike other baby palms Winter rain and damp does not seem to bother them at all. My two have been very wet in their plastic pots for the whole Autumn and Winter seasons which is great news for the UK climate.
Well, if you manage to get hold of one of these guys I would recommend you plant it in a sheltered part of your garden with ferns and other moisture lovers. East facing rather than South and in an area where it doesn’t get too frozen. I have not experimented with heavy freeze conditions yet, but will do once they get too big to bring indoors - probably 10 years or so away :D
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