John, this spot is on the east side of our house, and not too far away from the house, itself, which is a very tall two story structure. It does get shade in the afternoon, which is why I think a Kentia will do okay. From what I understand with Kentias in our area, they grow best in 35%-80% of full sunlight, tolerating direct sun only after about five years old. Any Kentia I'm going to be planting will be 5 years old or older, since I'm buying something in a very large container to get the height. I did discuss this at length with the guys at Junglemusic.net, THE "palm guys" in San Diego county (and probably for most of the western USA). They were the ones who suggested Kentias, as well as my landscaper and a few others. So, we should be okay with a couple of Kentias in this spot. Patty S.

I agree with lazygardens. Key is Fall planting to get established before Spring/ Summer heat. Narrow trunked palms, such as Queen palm would work well too, but they will need supplemental palm food periodically (containing Mg, Mn) to avoid yellowing. I would wait it out until Fall....... not much will establish in mid Summer in Mesa.

We've got three Queens behind our pool... No problems w/invasive roots, so far, after three years (that was one of the more MAJOR items on the "Wish List"/Criteria when selecting trees for the pool). The only problem we ran into - when building the pool, re-establishing the lawn, etc. was drainage... Unfortunately, there's a slope on the lawn - that runs towards the pool. We have drains built into the concrete, but we did have an area of "pooling" where one of the palms was s'posed to go. I'd bought three 8' Queens, and was all set to plant them (spring before last), but when I dug one of the holes, I found a MAJOR puddle! Ended up having to put in a french drain... Two years later... We've got the three Queens along the backside of our pool, and they're doing very well. But they're all living in somewhat "different" conditions. The one on the far left (over the french drain) is now the fullest. The one to the right of the pool is in a pretty "wet" zone, and is planted directly above some of the pool pipes. She's surviving, but not going nuts or anything. The one on the far right is probably doing the best (in terms of the 'grade' in the yard, this one's the highest-up - and also planted directly above pool pipes) - she has no "drainage issues" and is definitely thriving. Unfortunately, I don't have any recent pics posted - but I will add them to my website - possibly tomorrow (weather-permitting!) And if I do, I'll post the URL :-) Anyway, they're all within 3-4' of the pool and haven't caused any problems so far... HTH -Nancy

"New Zealand Flax, Spanish lavender, liriope aka Lilyturf are a few plants to consider. Also cistus rose, butterfly bush and loropetalum aka Chinese fringe flower. Mediterranean plants are drought resistant." Not sure how one is defining 'Mediterranean' but with the exception of the lavender and the cistus, none of the plants mentioned are of Mediterranean origin. "I wanted to use Icee Blue Podocarpus but learned they burn in our California heat." I find this difficult to believe. The plant was bred/developed in SoCal and they are widely sold and planted from the Bay area southward. Podocarpus of various kinds are commonly used for privacy screening in SoCal. If you like the plant, I'd go for it.