[Bonanza]

Originally Posted by Ozzello

Nope, this is NOT an official UF recommendation at all, nor anything taught a professor at UF teaching horticulture. Just a person's opinion on the Master Gardener's staff.

In certain circles, there are those with the opinion that only native species should be planted, or that only plants and trees that produce edible fruits and nuts be planted. Some would say you should only plant drought tolerant species. Though each of these opinions has merit, it would be a boring world, and detrimental in the long run to delete ANY species from the earth.
There have been may mistakes made introducing invasive species to non-native locations, but barring a species being invasive in your location, it is all about comparing the good and bad traits that EVERY plant has and deciding if you think that plant or tree is worth the trouble.
Everyone has an opinion, but the 'anti' opinion always seems to speak the loudest. Focusing on a weakness, they point fingers and dance around in verbal witch hunts spouting opinions and outright lies as if they are facts. If you look for yourself, you will see in the established areas of TV, many healthy and beautiful queen palms, many of them planted over a decade ago. There are many other great palms out there to plant, native and non-native species of conifers and deciduous trees as well, each has pros and cons. The funny thing about most of the people loudly proclaiming their opinion about what they are against, is they are rarely actually FOR anything, and if they are, it is only their own selfish agendas.

Your rant is missing the point of many of the posts to this thread. Yes, there are many Queen palms that are healthy, although I must say many of them have frizzle top. Okay -- healthy, green, trimmed properly, etc. BUT -- they are on Florida's do not plant list. This has nothing to do with a personal opinion. This is from the U of F.

There are plenty of Brazillian Peppers and Melaleucas that are healthy. Should you be planting them or not taking them out because they are healthy? No! Of course not.