Keeping a palm potted definitely won't help much. Your idea is great in cooler climates where people take their palms indoors for the winter, but in a warm climate where they will stay in the same spot year after year, the roots will find their way to the new soil eventually and grow like they normally would. You should look for smaller growing palms if you want the look without the mess. There are some Syagrus palms that mature at much shorter heights (Queen palms are in the Syagrus family of palms). You might also want to give less messy palms a try. King palms (Archontophoenix alexandrae) are much less messy than Queen palms when they fruit and the old fronds usually fall off on their own so they do not need to be pruned to look nice. Bottle palms (Hyophorbe lagenicaulis) are much smaller growing palms and have a really cool bottle shape to them). You will be able to keep them looking nice and clean without even using a ladder for many years. Eventually you might need a ladder to keep it pruned, but their max height is only around 15 feet (about 4.5 meters) and that's after many years. Good luck! -Alex

I didn't plant anything directly into the ground this year, as most of my stuff is still small and need to get good roots going. So I overwinter inside with grow lights and humidifier. I pot planted everything I wanted this summer. I water every other day and feed 1 time a week (Peter's 20-20-20). Because of the heat and watering, I must say that everything I have pot planted is absolutly THRIVING. In the front, I have a Pachypodium Gaeyi that's about 2' tall. An Cycas Edule No. Mexico thats about 2' trunked, a 3' banyan tree and a 5' Faxonia that gets people coming to my door and asking about it. The Faxonia is growing at an unbelievable rate with this heat. It grows at least an inch every two days and puts out new shoots almost every day. In the back I have one Robusta about 2' trunk with one leave opening and one leaf poking out. Another Robusta 4' trunk with new leaf opening. Yellow Groove Bamboo with 1/2 inch culms, PDP with 6" trunk, Valencia Orange tree, 2 Rostrata with both putting new leaves every day, 4 King Sago's with one being a juvenile w/ no new flushes, another one that had not flushed in 2 years but it flushed this year with a set of 6, another one that produced a 10 flush and the biggest flushed THIRTEEN this week. I have a 6" Hystrix (currently putting on new leaf), 6" Sabal Minor, 2 Takils both with 1' trunk and both putting on new leaf, Phoenix Theo w/ 6" trunk and a Pineapple that is doing GREAT! THats what I have pot planted outside. But inside I many trees of Royal Palms, Cycas Edule, Taraw Palm, Zamia Floridana, Zamia sp., Butterfly Palm, Livistona Chinensis, Canary Island Date Palm, Robusta, Filifera, Filibusta, Fortunei, Butia Yatay, and a few others. dbrya1, Get your butt in here more. Us Kansas guys need to stick together. It's so cool to talk to somebody close that shares your hobby.

Thanks very much for your reply. Yes, these are the older fronds at the bottom which have the yellowing/black spots. Although, the larger and newer ones at the top also have small yellow and black spots; except they're very small. If they get any larger, should I assume its fungal disease? What action would I have to take next? I don't know 100% if they're California fan palms, although the guy I bought them from said he started growing them in December- then we hit a hot spell, and they started sprouting by late December. I just bought these around mid-May and they've been growing pretty fast. He said they were California fan palms. Very interesting about the humidity. Didn't know that, although it makes sense now since I know California isn't humid like it is here. Any way I can reduce the humidity? Maybe not mist the leaves as much or at all?

Melbourne, SE AUSTRALIA Looking at planting palms, mainly the bangalows & Alexander. Mainly along our front path to our front door (5 - 6 palms), this area receives constant sunlight though also receives a hot northernly wind in summer. Also looking at planting palms with our ferns in the backyard which receives morning sun and will also receive some northernly wind in summer(usally cover the ferns with sheets when there is a northernly wind so they do not burn). I have to also kept in mind that our winters are quite cold in which we do receive some frost in the morning only, though no snow