hi there rob, i'm just down the road a bit (HWY 80) in hercules, and we've had our queen (which we got at home depot) for at least 6 years and she's been through alot and is doing just fine! we have that good 'ole clay soil too (pretty bad actually) and all we do is give her those fertilizer spikes by vigaro ever so often and that's it! when i say she's been through alot, i mean that we've moved her twice, she's been through 2 floods (neighbors retaining wall broke during heavy rains 2 years ago) and had to sit in standing water for about 3 weeks in our clay soil. plus, we're in a funky yet beautiful little valley (think california cows') that's right on the bay, so it gets very hot and pretty cold along with the moisture from the bay. for example, we've just had this outta nowhere heatwave for the last 3 days after tons of rain, and now today the fog is so thick, and it's damp and chilly! yes, her tips do brown from time to time, but she's doing just fine. we just keep her trimmed and fertilized. that's it. hope this helps and good luck! angela

Living in Florida I have righted many of my Queens after a Hurricane. I have never lost one that has leaned at 45degrees and subsequently righted. Preferably its best to right them right after they get blown over but its not essential. I have one tree I righted 2months after it leaned. What I do to right them is soak the ground with a soaker hose for a day. If they are large I use my Jeep winch otherwise 3 people can usually pull them up right. The key is to have one person on the other side with a line to prevent the tree from being pulled past center (very easy to do). Once the tree is where we want it, you can stake it off. I usually leave them staked for 9-12 months. If they are sill small and you want a different look you can leave them leaning and they will grow a curved trunk.

Most of the food a plant produces is made in the leaves via photosynthesis. What comes up through the roots (as minerals/fertiliser) is mainly to support that process in one way or another. Taking off green leaves is a bit like having a feed and then getting your stomach cut out and thrown away. Well, multiple leaves are like multiple stomachs, so you still have those that are left, but food production/intake is reduced. I've never been a fan of pruning palms, not even a fan of topiary in general. Giving them fertiliser will ensure they have all the supplements needed to keep the plants' processes performing at optimum levels. Other than that it's up to the remaining leaves to get the palms back to normal, a waiting game basically. Anyway, that's my take on the issue. Good luck with them.

Here in the greater Savannah area, there a re lots of scattered queen palms around town. Those on the "wst" side seem to get fried every year with the 18-20 degree temperatures, but do revoer by late summer. In general, though, they look much weaker than the ones downtown or on one of the islands. I have several in my yard, one that saw 19 degrees in jan. 2002 ( albeit briefly...but the palm was only 6 feet tall). This same queen is now over 22 feet with @ 12 feet of grey trunk, and heavily laden with seed. It appears to have the "silver queen" characertisitics of fat trunk, dense crown lof fronds, and very small seed/fruit size. BTW, I have never heard anyone refer to queen palm fruit as good to eat, and after sampling many "regular" queen palm fruit, I'd have to agree. However, the "silver queen", at least mine, has absolutely delicious fruit, better tasting than many pindos. In short, a regular queen most likley can and does withstand short periods @20F, but the "silver" variety can take a few degrees more...the only caveat is that ( according to COD Palms in Ovideo, FLA) most queen palms can't truly be differentiated in to "silver" or "regular" unitl they are @12 feet in overall height...and even then, there is no "set in stone" criterion. My 2 cents.