Try to get some Queen palms (Syagrus romanzoffiana). They are very tropical looking, grow fairly fast, and are quite cold tolerant (you will still have to protect them from temperatures down into the 20's). I have two that go in a loft garage from December till late March. My second choice would be a species of Phoenix (roebellini or canariensis). Of the two, P. canariensis is more cold tolerant (but will still beed to be protected--similar in temp tolerance to the Queens in my opinion). I know that many people say that P. canariensis is a slow grower but I'm not one of them. They love full sun but are massive--both in height and width. If you go for the canariensis, watch those spines!! If you can't overwinter in a garage but need your house, I would go with a Foxtail palm (Wodyetia bifurcata).

Hi
How about some member of the Dracaena family?? Come in many incredible colors are hardy to a vice .lol can be pruned to any size you like . I particularly like the yellow and green but the red and pink is downright gaudy.
Check out the family there are hundreds plus many hybrids. gary

How are you planning to overwinter them? Anything you buy will likely take full sun, but it needs time to get acclimated - usually 3-4 weeks. Start it out in shade then gradually give more sun.

Thank you all so very much for the input and ideas. It's very helpful. I've seen a few photos here of what some of you have done, and they are breathtaking. Any good sources for all of the suggestions?

I am glad sagos are pretty hardy because I love them! I would gladly go for large ones if I thought I could keep them alive. I am not familiar with the sizes of planters, but the ones we have are some of the largest ones you can buy at the garden centers. Dimensionwise, maybe 26-30" high and 20+" across? I can get larger ones for the palms if need be.

(I did forget to mention we have 2 cats and 2 dogs who all spend a lot of time out there, so something that is safe and non-toxic to pets is very important to us.)

What we are trying to accomplish is a bit different, because the only place we really have to put our tropicals is around/on our pool deck. Our house is on the edge of deep woods, and the pool is raised, so we don't have anywhere back there for planting - ergo the plan to have potted tropicals.

We have a large garage where we wintered a 7' rubber plant in front of a window. It was on a rolling cart that we could put outside on nice days. The plan would be the same for the palms. That plant goes in the only area that is in shade or partial shade for a lot of the day.

I've enclosed pics of the area we'd like to put the tropical palms plants in. A large portion of the deck - on the right - is not shown. I also plan to put in an outside shower in the area of the pool deck to the extreme left (difficult to see - it's between the wooden deck and the left edge of the porch), and would like to put potted plants in that area too. I don't have to worry about privacy as we are on acreage with no nearby neighbors. We cut the trees back since this pic was taken, so it is almost full sun all during the day.

What do you think of some long, low planters in between the columns? The porch is very large, so there would be room for something there that maybe trailed over the edge of the porch down to the deck? Suggestions for something like that?

Any more ideas on how to dress this deck and porch area up with tropicals would be super! Thank you. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Pool area

Definitely get yourself some brugmansias! They flower at night, and are VERY fragrant. They'll need to go inside for the winter, though.

YOu might also want to get some Areca Palms. Google a picture and they might have the effect you want especially around an outside shower ever though you don't need privacy.

Look to Hawaii! I think the Ti Plant would be very lovely in a pot. Google for some images, they are very colorful and a little palm-like.

hi
Some other suggestions would be Cannas ,Gingers ,Spath flowers alocasia, colocasias. These would have the advantage of going completely dormant in winter. Could be stored in a mesh sack. Some heliconis, bananas will tolerate this also. Would require no winter care at all and be easy to repot in spring.
Almost all Palms and cycads would require at least minimal light and water year around. Save you a ton of work not to mention space. gary

You may want to consider growing Pindos and sagos in pots. They're not as tropical looking as some of the zone 10 palms -- but they're more robust in my opinion, and you can leave them out until November. I move mine into the garage during cold spells, but they can take a fair degree of cold -- into the twenties. So I can enjoy them for a longer period of the year. They both go in my garage and don't seem to balk at the lower light levels.

Also, since you're in zone 7B, you may consider throwing some Trachys in the ground.