Palm Trees
 

Palm trees are lovely.

do they require a lot of maintenance?

Yes and they are roach and carpenter ant factories.

................don't even mention the rats!

Yes but if you keep them properly trimmed from bottom to top you will not have any rat or roach issues at all. Just maintain them like you have to do with all plants in Florida

Many palms require continual maintenance and the seed pods in Queen palms are a real pain to keep up with.

Depends what kind of palm tree you'd like. Queen palms and sylvesters, yes they require seed pod trimming and queens are frost susceptible.

A windmill palm is a fabulous little palm tree, almost zero maintenance but they grow slowly and don't get tall. Ours is about 5' tall and is 8 years old. It's quite a pretty palm.

We also have a lot of sable palms, the state tree of Florida and tons of 'em around TV.
They do need fronds trimmed and get some seed pods (not as nasty as Sylvesters), but if you get shorter ones, you can trim it yourself pretty easy for a few years, then get some landscaper to do it.

European fan palms and sugar palms are pretty nice, not much maintenance.
Take a look at those.

I have Sylvesters, Fan, Sugar, and Robellini palms, the Sylvesters are the most work but well worth it as when properly taken care of they are beauties. I found out from a neighbor that "male" Sylvester palms do not have the seed pods, his requires much less maintenance than mine. I might add that we have never had a rodent or bug problem around any of our palms but they do attract a lot of birds when the seeds come out.

And all Queen Palms, although sold here out of their zone tolerance, will suffer from "Butt Rot" and will eventually die. Insects in the trunk will bring woodpeckers too that can destroy a palm in a month or two unless you systemically rid the palm of its bugs. I have two, planted 17 years ago, that I baby sit. I notice that The Villages does not plant Queens on their house lots. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
Maintenance - YES, but Beautiful - also YES.

Skip

I have three sable palms.They are beautiful. I maintain them twice a year. Love them

Until they grow so tall that they aren't safe to prune and you need a professional to trim them. $$

Seriously? Rats? If theres rats, youhave a more serious problem than a palm tree

A lot of maintenance is not needed ,as with all plants in Florida they do require care. I think palms are beautiful but are a very dirty tree,,seed pods ,froms etc.harbor bugs and in some cases rodents.

Most beautiful Palms
 

Yes some do require lots of work, and yes the bugs and rodents live in the fronds. The most beautiful are the Christmas Palms, we had 3 of them in a cluster when we lived in Palm Beach, beautiful, slow growing, but cannot tolerate the colder weather here. We chose our home without a Palm, but we have a beautiful Oak in our back yard. Wish we could have Christmas Palms here, google it they are beautiful.

The most high maintenance trees I've ever had. If I knew what I know now, I would have never had them put in.

Personally I believe the northerners who come here fuss over palm way to much. Plant one and leave it. Never saw a rat roach or any other problems caused by a palm. People trim them so much here that they over grow. The more you trim the more they grow. They naturally trim themselves. Bugs, rats, snakes, and geckos are part of our eco system. Read up on it and enjoy.