Good luck with the queens, they seem ungainly unless you have a lot of space, both vertically and horizontally.

Good indoor palms:

Caryota mitis
Howea forsteriana
Chamaedorea elegans
Chamaedorea ernestii-augustii
Chamedorea costaricana
Chambeyronia macrocarpa
Lytocarium weddelianum

Majesties are not junk; they just don't belong indoors. Also most people dramatically underwater them. Queens are not generally considered good indoors either.

Forgot to mention the Rhapis palms, unsurpassed for indoor survival. Variegated kinds especially beautiful...

Am I missing something...or just plain lucky? I've had a potted Majesty for years now and never encountered a problem. It spends April through October outdoors under a maple tree, and the rest of the year on top of my computer desk where it gets minimal light at best. I water it thoroughly once a week, and mist every so often. It has been re-potted twice, and grown (though slowly) fairly well. I consider this a plus, since it means transportation in and out is manageable. When I think about the initial cost, and the subsequent time of maintenence, these palms seem outstanding to me. Just my $.02's worth.

Trishmick, I agree with you. I have no real serious problems with this species. But realize that we are growing these guys outdoors for up to 7-8 months of the year! I treat all my containerized palms this way and it makes a BIG difference from a plant that never experiences life outdoors. If you're growing this species as a pure indoor "houseplant", I'm sure it is going to suffer endlessly from scale. By the way, scale and all sorts of bug problems can really be dramatically reduced by holding down their winter temperatures.--I try to keep my Majesty (and Queen palms for that matter), somewhere between 40-65 F. in the Winter. You can do this with the majority of palm species in the plant trade. I do NOT recommend these chilly conditions, obviously, for the more tender species (Cocos, Adonidia, among others).

I agree with Kim-and will add Majestys are not long term potted palms. I havent seen the thriving potted majesty palm yet. Some doing well,but again over years you will have wished you put that time into a palm that is content and gets better every year indoors.
They are in their own sneaky marketing category..so easy to propagate and get to selling size..to a public that will confuse them with the old standard Kentia, no doubt.

Why not get a spindle they are great houseplants !

I have both a queen and a majesty that i bring indoors for the winter. Both are doing well. They do get huge but they do well indoors for as long as you can keep them! Have had them for several years and the queen hasnt outgrown my front hallway just yet!

Here is a link that might be useful:

Eureka, I have found queen palms to be great indoor plants. Go for it!

Wow, everything from soup to nuts in responses, fascinating. I don't need to worry about height as we have those 20 ft ceilings. Well, you know, they looked really cool in the model. I don't have window coverings to block any light, which I thrive on. There are few indoor plants that reach the height that I would like to have thus I thought a queen palm might be a possibility. In winter the area would be 65, and in summer it would be at 82. We are quite dry also. I would not attempt to move it outside. I guess I need to try one and see if the palm likes its surroundings. I did work very hard to keep the Majesty palms in the culture they thrive in but could not find the perfect balance. Drives me crazy when I take the time to read up and follow care instructions only to have a plant fail. I'm tending to believe that once at the big box stores, a plant is already doomed to failure as the plant comes right out of a green house with no hardening off and sudden exposure to the real world. The palms Costco brings in (at least here) have been raised outside so I can control better going from outside in. Much less shocking I would think. Thank you all for your opinions. Your time is appreciated.

The only problem that will eventually happen is you will get mites or other pests invading your palm. You can take as many precautions as you want (I spray mine with a mixture of neem oil and soap) to keep the critters away but seeing as you mentioned it is dry, it is inevitable that you will get an infestation at some point, especially since you wont be bringing it outside. From what you desscribe, a Queen palm would look beautiful inside. If you are considering a permanent home for a palm, maybe another kind would be more suitable i.e. Ptychosperma elegans or a Carpentaria acuminata would work really well for your spot. It is all a matter of opinion! Good luck! :)

For indoors, queens tend to become spindly and scronny - not what I look for in an indoor palm. Even when grown in pots they look like a small tuft of spindly leaves atop a toothpick trunk. I think their place is outdoors wherever they can be grown. Kentias are the ultimate indoor-type palm. They can tolerate dense shade and still look lush and robust. Here is a Kentia I have growing in complete shade.

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BTW, here are two queen palms I have growing outdoors. The one to the right is one I bought from Costco last year (I'm assuming from your last post that's where you are planning on buying your queen palm. They carry them for $40 or something like that). Just to give you an idea of how fast they grow.
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Cali that guy's getting big .. Good job !

I have a good sized queen palm planted in the ground outside. I got it through the winter by bundling it with masking tape, wrapping it with plastic, then a long rope light, then plastic again, and covering the top fronds with 2 large plastic yard bags.

I lost some of the outer leaves, but so what - those were going soon anyway. Now I have a neatly pruned queen palm ready to grow like mad for another summer. It survived the worst winter we've had here in years, including many nights into the 10-15 degree range.

btw ditto on a spindle palm - they are great houseplants, but grow very slowly indoors. I put mine outside from April to November and it will grow maybe 4 new leaves during this time. It just sits idle indoors during the winter. At least they don't have a lot of dead stuff on them like the queen palm always does.

Even better than Queen for indoors would be Foxtails-THOSE I have seen thriving indoors.I wish I could do the same outdoors with them.
Aldonidia also fit the bill indoors.

Foxtails will grow indoors ?

Foxtails do great indoors...better color(dark green) than those grown outdoors in soucal that's for sure..nice bulgy base,ringed trunk. I haven't grown one but saw one that looked to have been growing awhile in a resturaunt in San Francisco. Wouldn't you know it since I saw that happy palm,the local stores dont sell Foxtails anymore. The word they dont grow here as outdoor palms spread fast after 07.

WOW va canuck-congrats on your queen surviving outdoors during winter! That definitely deserves bragging rights! Queens are truly great palms and very hardy, but getting them through a northern winter is quite a feat. Even a trachy would be hard pressed at those temps. Anyone else have success over wintering queens in northern climates? I live too far north to even try this but it's great hearing others having success.

I have had a queen palm from seed for about 4-5 years now and it spends its winters indoors, but it is getting big. Every year it gets invaded by spider mites, but I spray the leaves with water every day and that controls them pretty well. They are not long term palms for indoors and I take mine outside every summer and it gets harder and harder to move it back in. Right now its about 9 feet tall which is 2 more feet more from this time last year. I might be able to drag it in next year for 1 more winter even though it will probaly be 11 feey tall including the pot, and after that maybe I will plant it outside and see what it can handle if I give it LOTS of protection. It has survived a bitter winter in a unheated garage when it was young and it saw 15 degrees, so its a strong palm.

A bottle palm may be a nice indoor outdoor palm. They take forever to get to a huge size and has a really nice swelling trunk so if its in a big pot it will definately get a lot of attention when its older. Lady palms are considered the best indoor palms their are with their power to clean the air and the fact they stay very small, but indoors they grow at a snails pace of 1 or 2 leaves a YEAR and are 100s of dollars for a noticeable sized plant. Parlor palms are nice. They stay small, make lots of seeds at an age of 4 years old usually in mid winter, and are bright and noticeable. One of the easiest indoor palms. Pygmy palms make a nice statement as indoor palms as well and have thin fronds that spread in a nice shape, but have thorns on the bottom of them where they meet the trunk.

Great list of indoor palms the catkim. I would also add Chamaedorea metallica and Dypsis lutescens,if you have the room.