You can go by the Sumter County extension service with a photo and seek answers but most have learned the hard way that queen palms cannot tolerate our climate year round, fertilization of lawns that include your landscape designs and our once or twice a week watering of our lawns. Queen Palms thrive south of Orlando. Last year, a palm tree specialist visited the villages at the request of the Sumter Extension service. I talked about the different palm trees that thrive in the Villages but he also said our homes are too close together to plant tall growers. He suggested and provided slide presentation images of an assortment of palms. Then he said, "some of you have the queen palm." That got most of the standing room only crowds attention for what was coming next. He suggested, "if you have any growing in your yard, it started dying the moment it was planted." He then positioned his hand like a stop sign to the nervous crowd and suggested if you have any, have it - them removed to avoid the tree coming down (usually at the base). A landscaper pointed correctly to what we heard that these trees can and do die from its inner core and its only a matter of time. I know that to be true for us because we had the best looking queen palms on our street and admired for their appearance. Our palms were three feet tall when planted and grew steadily 3 - 4 feet a year. Once they reached 10 - 12 feet I was concerned that wind, storms, etc. would bring any and all on our home or our neighbor's homes. We had them cut down and sure enough at the base of each palm within its most inner core each was rotted. Our trees showed no signs of distress so we were surprised. My neighbors were disappointed but I was relieved.
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