Welcome Hillary! I agree with Rhizo on the identification (it is usually sold in stores as a "Parlor Palm" or "Neanthe Bella Palm" (that's why scientific names are so great, no confusion there!) I am no expert btw, so keep that in mind when reading what I write :-) Since I don't know where you live, I'm going to give you some general advice on keeping the plant alive. Having the plant thrive is another matter, and I've never figured that one out! TEMPERATURE: If you live in Florida or anywhere warmer, you may plant this palm outside. Otherwise, it's a houseplant that you can set outside during the summer. I think anything below 55F is bad. LIGHT: As with many palms, it likes bright light, but not direct sun. What latitude you live at will affect the hours of light in the day (duh!) and also the quality of the light. I live in northern latitudes, and so I allow my palms to have DIRECT light (even though this is a no-no) because the angle of the sun is so low, that the light is not as strong, so it doesn't harm the plant. In the summer, my palms go outside on a covered deck, and get only indirect light. So, basically, understand how your latitude affects your light. One person's "my plant is in indirect light" is another person's "direct light." If you don't get much light in the winter, or have only a north-facing window, you may use supplemental lighting--this need not be expensive, nor complicated. I have a floor lamp with a "spotlight" or reading light, and I put in a CFL (must use CFL or LED... incandescents are too hot). I leave that on from sunset (5pm) till I go to bed many hours later. That one, single bulb helps a lot. You can place it very close to the plant, maybe 6" or more I think. POTTING MEDIUM / "SOIL": A fast-draining soil is best for your palm, although right now it is most likely not in that kind of medium (soil). There is a lot of stuff on GW about soil/medium... if you have time, it will be worth your while to read it. Here's a link (sorry, I don't know how to make it a hyperlink) to a long thread about potting medium: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg1221344425812.html "Container Soils - Water Movement and Retention XVI" Basically, the standard MG potting soil you might buy is waaaay too peat-y and water-retentive for a palm (and most houseplants). I am still working on making a good soil mix, but for now, I add lots of perlite to stuff to help water drain better. To change your soil will require repotting your plant, and that's a whole 'nother thread! :-) WATERING: A fast-draining soil is preferred, as stated above. Most likely, your plant is not in a fast-draining soil. I am going to *assume* your soil is like *most* soil that comes with houseplants... peaty :-D So, if you have a peaty soil, it will retain moisture for a long time, and potentially cause your roots to rot. For this situation, I recommend taking your palm to the shower and watering it there. Water until it comes out the bottom, then wait 10 minutes, then water some more (I find with peat soils, it gets so dry that it doesn't absorb water easily, so I find the double-watering to be helpful). After you've watered it twice, tip the pot it on its side to drain it (I am assuming your pot has drain holes at the bottom). Once no more water comes out the bottom, put the plant back where it was. Do NOT water on a schedule. The amount of water your plant goes through will depends on how much light it is getting and other factors (mine goes through a lot more water when outside). So, stick a finger in the soil, and water when it's dryish 1-2" down. I'm not really sure about this, so others can chime in with regards to watering peaty soils. If you had a fast-draining soil, you would water a lot more often because the soil would dry faster :) Perhaps twice a year you will want to take your plant to the shower/outside, and water it a LOT to sort of "rinse" the soil and leach out accumulated salts and whatnot. The buildup of those can harm your plant. CONTAINERS: From my understanding, if you have a fast-draining soil (unlikely), than you can have a bigger container and not worry about root rot so much. The roots will grow and fill out the container. BUT, if you have what I think you have, a peaty soil, then you will want a container that's not much bigger than the root mass. Why? Because the soil will take a long time to dry, and if there is a lot of soil around the roots it will keep the soil around the roots very moist, potentially causing rot. Your plant looks like it is in the right sized pot for peaty/slow-draining soil.. just a guess though:) Another feature of your container should be draining holes. You want the water to be able to exit the soil. If your container doesn't have holes, and you can't make them, repot it ASAP in my humble opinion. PESTS: Spider mites, mealybug, and scale can be a problem. I have struggled with both spider mites and scale in the past, so I spray my plants now and then to keep things under control. Your plant may be pest-free, but I recommend getting familiar with the leaves and the undersides, so you know what "healthy" looks like, so you can see the symptoms of these bugs. Scale shows up as little brown spots that you can scrape off easily (sometimes it almost seems like they are connected to the plant with a bit of syrup).. kinda sticky. Other times they just come off with barely a touch (I think this is when they are dead). Scale crawl around and then hunker down and make a protective coating (that's the brown spot you see). They don't really get hurt by pesticide sprays much, I don't think, but when they are in "crawler" stage they are affected more, so that's why if you have scale, you spray every 2-3 weeks for awhile, I think. Spider Mites are not insects, but arachnids. You can sometimes see their webbing on the plants, and especially on the underside of leaves. If I look closely at an affected frond, I can actually see them moving. Often you won't see them at all, and maybe not even the webbing. The first/clearest sign is on the leaves. They go from being a nice solid green, to darker and lighter green..kind of speckled or flecked. Basically, as they damage and kill cells, the leaf gets a tiny speckled look to it. Be on the look out for this, it may be your first sign. Spider mites like hot & dry air...which is many a house in winter! Well, that's about all I can think of right now. There's a lot more info on the forums if you do a keyword search. And again, I'm just a beginner, so hopefully others will correct me if I gave you bad advice :-) I just shared what I have learned so far, and what my experience has been. I used to always kill my palms, but now my chamaedorea cataractarum seems to be doing better than ever--yay! Good luck with your beautiful palm and don't hesitate to ask more questions--lots of really knowledgeable people on these forums! Siobhan

Thanks for the replies. @ Tiemco so Tall fescue is the type of seeds I need to buy for that bare spots? Sorry is that's a dumb question LOL! Here is the bare spot in the front. Below are a few pictures of the rear. @ Newrandwest I noticed the tearing when I was reviewing the pics. I have a push mower & that it a brand new blade on it. Do you have to sharpen new blades? I just thought about it. I used a pellet type of weed & feed shortly before the guy at the store told me to try the liquid kind. I only treated the front half of the yard with that & I treated the whole yard with the liquid. I dont know if that was too much for the grass but I believe the pellets are the reason the front looks pretty green & half decent. I didn't use the pellets in the back because money was getting low plus the back was in really bad condition & needed a lot of work. The yard has a little incline up to the canter then it goes back down & that kinda hide the rough parts from the front. Here is the main problem spot in the front yard. From the front porch Up close Dead? Under the side extension for the kitchen Back yard. You can see the weed killer are keeping those little white flower things in the other yard Is if my yard wasn't jacked up enough... Thanks Direct TV guy! If I could get my entire yard to look like this part in the front I would be very happy :-)

Patti, I only live a couple hours from you so maybe what I do will work. Trim the dry growth off of them in the early spring before the new growth gets going. You might be able to do that now if they new sprouts are short. The old wood is the strongest and thats what I use as my guide. The older taller wood is usually wrapped around the support and I will leave it if there is good growth. If the vine seems unstable I'll cut it back or use a large twist tie to prop it in place. Once late spring arrives it will take life of its own and start wrapping itself up the support again. If it loves the soil where you have it, fine a good large support for a bigger plant. If the plant is trimmed and the old flowers plucked off, it usually will show more flowers in the fall. Keep the clematis feet in the shade and the head in the sun.

I do not know exact name, but the cactus you have needs to be planted in well draining mix. It seems to be in dense soil now. Fast and easy mix could be made by using lots of perlite with the soil, at least half of the total volume. I am assuming the container has a drainage hole?