What part of the RR/Austin area are you moving to? The winter lows are moderated nearest the downtown area and nearby neighborhoods due to a small urban heating effect on calm, cold nights. I can't say I've seen any ponytail palms in the ground in the Austin area. Without winter protection, I doubt they would last too long in the ground; but one could always try. There are a few good sized Queen palms planted near Taco Cabanas at two locations: south of the lakes downtown & some on highway 79 neat Redbud lane. A cold winter could certainly kill them without protection, but if they are near a building facing south and have some added heat, they can do alright at least for a few years. I have one in front of my home for 3.5 years. I planted it as a 7 gallon palm from HD that was perhaps 6 feet to the tallest frond. I've put C9 Christmas lights (w/o a sheet or tarp to trap the heat) on it to protect the trunk and bud from the winter. The coldest it has seen was 17 degrees for a low temp. Some tips were a little brown on the fronds, but it didn't lose those fronds. It is now about 22 feet tall to the topmost frond and the trunk is about 1.5-2 feet in diameter at the base. Drip irrigation and fertilizer help a lot. I have some smaller ones in my backyard on the north side that were planted as 3 gals 2 years ago, they have handled the cold without any protection and are growing at a good rate. Others in my neighborhood have planted Queens in the past few years and they are doing well. They don't cost very much at these small sizes, and seem to grow pretty well, so you might try them as an experiment. These queen palms might be a slightly different variety compared to those from Florida as the Texas varieties seem more robust, but perhaps that is just due to the soil and nutrients available. If you can find them, there are hybrids between the Butia and Queen (and some other combos as well) that should handle the worst of the cold weather better than a Queen and grow faster than a Butia. As other posters mentioned, if you want trunk forming palms, the California and Mexican Fan palms do well, with the California being much hardier to the cold and ice here. The Butia (Jelly) plams do fairly well except in heavy limestone and are cold tolerant. Sabal palms are also very tough. Windmill palms seem to grow well and are pretty cold hardy. Date palms seem to grow well, but a record cold outbreak cold kill almost any palm, with a trunk, as the all time low is below zero. Good luck.

We're on the same page, and I'm prompted to add another thought by your saying, "Some of them [plants] are just the last ones left standing in a harsh environment, and can be more ideal specimens with more (consistent) water, less sun, less temperature fluctuation - whatever the variations might be from the habitat." Many growers reason 'it's best to try to replicate conditions the influences of which the plant grows under where it naturally occurs' (in situ), but plants do not commonly grow where they are capable of doing their very best (realizing as much of their genetic potential as possible). This, because other plants more genetically vigorous out-compete them for the most favored real estate. Often, plants growing in situ are just barely managing to hang on, unable to compete with others able to make better use of the resources. Some plants even resort to releasing allelopathic chemicals which are toxic their competitors. Most of us know of the allelopathic effects resultant of the chemical, jugulone, contained in the tree's organs, but many other common plants use chemicals to secure their right to rootage, among them are, marigold, fennel, some sunflowers, asparagus, bearberry, elderberry, garlic mustard, goldenrod, forsythia, and hundreds more. So, it's best to avoid trying to replicate the conditions under which the plant grows in situ, and first try a grow medium known to be appropriate for hundreds of species of other plants. The main reason is that water acts very differently in a soil/medium when in a container than it does in soils in the landscape. The other valid reason relates to what I said above, 'plants growing in situ might very likely not do best where the are fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to put down roots. Excluding most cacti and some succulents, there are precious few terrestrial plants that cannot be kept perfectly happy/healthy in a fast-draining, well-aerated medium. Al

Curious here too. (thanks to Houzz for showing "related" conversations ;-) ) My Ponytail palm is in very little soil. It was given as a gift in a 6" wide ceramic pot several years ago. For a couple of years I suspected it was rootbound but I put off potting it up because it still did well and tolerated any bad over-watering tendencies. I finally re-potted it just a little bigger pot about a year or so ago. Still looks great and got much bigger. It may be rootbound again, but I'm not touching it. My soil is typically Miracle Grow or Coast of Maine or Fox Farm, or sometimes even a little of each in my re-use bin. I always make sure my mix has good amounts of perlite. I possibly could have mixed in a bit of cactus mix if I were thinking about it.

From the top down about a foot or so feels mushy and one shot on the trunk as well. I'm going to cut the top off but I'm not sure what kind wax I should put on the cut? Also what should I do with the spot on the trunk. I am also planning on transplanting it and was wanting suggestions on the best succulent soil to use.