Hello Sharon, I don't know if you're still around - I've been busy at work and haven't been keeping up with this site but in case you are there I think it is great that you are looking to replace you Queen Palms. They really don't like it here in Las Vegas. When you say Australian willow two different trees come to mind for me Geijera parviflora which I don't have but which is supposed to be a great tree and I've seen them at Plant World and Acacia Salicina which I have and like a lot. I think the Geijera is supposed to be a better tree because it is more wind resistant but I do like the Acacia S. because it is a beautiful tree. The problem with it is that with too much water it grows too dense and can get knocked over in the wind. I'm trying not to water mine too much and will consider thinning it if it gets a lot of dense growth. Maria

I live about as far away from you as possible so my advice may mean nothing - to me it sounds like they are in shock. It could be stronger winds then they have ever experienced before, stronger sunlight or something about the weather that they are not used to dealing with (like salt spray). With mine, I water the trunk every day. I mean I spray the trunks of all the tree ferns more than I ever water the soil in the pots they are growing in. They get most of the soil moisture from rain but the wind can dry out the trunks which seem to prefer being moist all the time. Whenever I repot mine I cut off all but one or two fronds to help it adjust to the new soil and any damage done to the roots while being repotted. I've had mine for many years and the tallest one is over 6 feet tall. I don't really baby them, but I keep them moist, water the trunks and try to keep them out of the wind.

I currently have 3 grown from seed that I've had in for about 10 years. They took a few years to flower but once they did they developed multiple heads and while they still look ok, they aren't as attractive as when they had just a single head. Flower/seed spikes go up each year and are very bird attractive, when the spike falls or you cut it down, if you leave it on the ground to rot down seedlings spring up. The thing with grass trees is they like a fire through them every few years or if you can't provide that a good cut back will benefit - you may have noticed that after a bush-fire grass trees are the first plants to regenerate. I've managed to transplant them ok by restricting root disturbance as much as possible, however, they generally don't like being disturbed and can take up to 2 years to die as a result.

This will really seem like a dumb-**s statement, but I have to ask, these trees likely don't have pests affecting them though? These trees "oils" are used for pest control, right? I have seen on the show"Billy the exterminator", that these trees have an oil that is really popular, and affective in getting rid of many pests, without harming people. It is a warm climate tree, but, this tree has been used in pest control, and has apparently been made available in the USA.