Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you would probably become very frustrated trying to grow Saw Palmetto, Serenoa repens. I have tried for many years to grow it and it is the same small, single fan I planted back then. I have removed a large section of the underground trunk and roots, 7-8" in dia. and 4-5' long and planted it, without success. Once removed from the sandy soil and milder climate of the coastal plains, it is very unhappy. There is a dwarf Palmetto, Sabal minor, that resembles the Saw Palmetto, but doesn't have serrated leaves, that should do well in your climate. It also doesn't have the huge underground trunks that can destroy underground utilities, especially sewer lines or septic system field lines! :Rb Here is a link that might be useful:

Hey, Alex, you have GOT to see this! Have you heard about the two sabal lisas on I-75 in fort meyers florida that they are trying to save from destruction? Well check this out! I was on google maps where they were and I found one!!! Its not the clearest pic and the trunk is covered in weeds, but there is no doubt in my mind that this is one of those two sabal lisas: Cool,huh! Im very exited I found this! -Hunter

Islandbreeze is correct. However. SOME sable minor's in "habitat", IE in thier natural environment, which is coastal wetlands from extreme SE Virginia, on down through the carolina's, GA, and into FL, they CAN produce stout drunks of a few feet. Here are a couple of photos of Sabal Minor in habitat. The second photo shows just how big they can get over a very long period of time in ideal conditions. Then THIS is Sabal Palmetto: Hope that helps clear things up for ya! NOTE: All photos courtesy of www.garysnursery.com Here is a link that might be useful: Gary's Nursery

I've transplanted a bunch of Sabal minors (which have the reputation of being hard to move, and kind of grow like a young S. palmetto) before with mixed results. I tried both cutting most of the leaves off and leaving most of the leaves on after digging them up and moving them. My best results have been with really small plants leaving most of the leaves on, and trying my best to get all of the roots. I think at this point your palm will have a pretty large bulb-like underground trunk, like a big S. minor. After digging up a few of the larger minors, I can tell you it is going to be a lot of back-breaking work to even come close to getting half of the roots undamaged, and if you damage the underground trunk (which may go 2 feet underground or more) it is game over. You are going to have to remove the fence, and slowly excavate around from the base of the plant until you start finding roots and following them out to their ends. Supposedly all damaged Sabal roots will die back to the main trunk, and a palmetto without at least a 6 foot trunk doesn't have the energy stores to grow new ones. So your goal will be to recover as many complete and undamaged roots as possible, enough to support the number of leaves you have left on the plant. You can cut a few leaves off before digging, but you are going to have to leave enough so the plant can produce enough energy to grow new roots and re-establish. Again, it is going to be a ton of work, to maybe only have it shrivel up and die. I would just leave it alone if you really want it to survive.... You can also decide what your time is worth, how much is at least a few hours of hard digging labor worth to you? You can just buy a small potted palmetto like that for 50 bucks if you look around, and plant it where you want. I also know around here a 10 ft trunked palmetto goes for $125, and another $100 to get it installed.