my pygmy palms got hit hard this year by the frost, some more then others, but they are starting to recover slowly. i think every winter since we have put them in, they always get some frost damage and it does take a while for new fronds to replace the damaged ones. since the damage was so extensive this time, i do not think they will look great again until next year (if we do not have another hard freeze). i know some people in our neighborhood have already ripped out their damaged pygmy palms and have replaced them with new ones. i am going to be patient and just wait it out since our palms are pretty large now. give them a little more time. how established were your palms before the freeze?

I got a few at Home Depot last year and they are doing so well in both sun and shade,gosh, and I just blanked on the name!!! argh. They are not the Red Sister,but very similar color(pink/burgundy) and have a thinner leaf and with crotons they look really great! They are selling them at HD right about now(new foliage coming in is very bright colored). I have the pigmy palm and even though they are nice tropical looking,the are such a pain to take care of I think I'll be pulling them up soon...especially the one in the container on the patio. teeka

Hi Scott Coming to the Florida Forum was a wise decision, and you will get alot of great advice here. I live on a Zone 10 island, so I do alot of stuff differently that I did in Central Florida. But I trim and prune and water and fertilize the pygmy dates all the time, whenever they need it. Not sure if that's right for you - perhaps Ricky will set us straight! After Hurricane Wilma drowned mine, I soaked 'em everyday and took off all the browned fronds. (Careful of those thorns) That was in Oct - Nov and we didn't get any rain for 5 months. I think you will get new growth if you cut back your crotons - I used to do it and root all the cutings to make more. It's worth a try before you dig 'em up and toss 'em. If we ever start getting our daily summer rains, you could plant new stuff. Or keep the soaker hose on the new babies and give 'em some shade til they take hold. Are you under watering restrictions in your neighborhood? I learn about new stuff on this forum ALL the time and always type in the names of plants in my web browser after reading about them here. If you go to the bottom of the page, you can do a search for just about anything and see what's already been written about your subject. I love that feature. And we like to have old things revived and revisited, so you can post something to the message if you want to ask something else. And like Florah said, you can always post pictures - there's instructions on the Conversations Page - our friendly folks will be better able to help. So WELCOME to the best place on earth for learning about Gardening in Florida. Susie

By legs you probably mean trunks . Robelinini palms are commonly grown together with multiple trunks. They are seperate plants though. Dead trunks can be cut down to ground level without affecting other plants. Trunks that have died last year should be cut down. Wait till summer to see if this years trunks are dead. I also sugest you fertelize them to get good growth after being damged.