I have all 3 that you mentioned growing indoors right now for the winter, they all seem equally fine in the house, I definitely water them less than when they were outside in the summer, and I spray daily with soap water to prevent unwanted critters.

I haven't noticed any dried up leaf tips which I have seen with other tropical species indoors in lower humidity.

I think the key is to acclimate them for a few weeks whenever the environment changes, and place them next to a window that gets at least a couple hours of sun.

My feeling is you can get just about any palm to survive indoors for a while. Light is the major factor and some palms do OK with less light such as Kentia, Rhapis, Chrysalidocarpus, etc. Another factor is size! Many palms will soon outgrow your space unless you have huge windows and cathedral ceilings! But you can certainly enjoy them for a while. I just recently threw out my coconut as it got too large. Anything in the Phoenix family are fairly easy indoors, but with the exception of Roebelinii (sp?) most get large FAST, especially if you summer them outdoors.

I have a couple of 2 foot x-mas palm seedlings as well. I saw one in a greenhouse that looks as though it won't outgrow my ceiling!! I like the idea of soapwater. I spray my palms regularly but don't use soapwater. Thanks for the tip xerophyte. dave in nova-I am more interested in the palms that are rarely seen in Canada. Walmart has the majesty palm and kentia and lady palms are found in every nursery. The triangle and alexander palm i have to special order. What about growing a sabal palmetto indoors? I read that they are VERY slow growing and I have not read anywhere that they would survive indoors due to lighting conditions. If you keep the tree potted wont it keep it small enough to keep indoors?

You can keep most anything indoors with proper environment. Its going to take the right combination of lighting, heat, humidity, potting mixes, etc. Experimentation is part of the equation. Read as much as you can about each specimen and learn what it takes to make it survive outdoors and then determine if you are willing or can provide those conditions indoors. Sometimes its easy and sometimes it's not. Good luck.

I have heard sabel palmetto is tough to grow indoors..

If any palm expert were to buy one unique palm to showcase in the living room, what would it be?

Not an expert... but i bet most would say kentia
beautiful feather type palm.. hotels , motels , resorts They all grow kentia indoors it realy makes a statement !
They are probaly the easiest palm to grow indoors and they grow at a moderate speed not too fast.. Just my two cents worth : )

I do like kentia palms. Although in my opinion, you get more of a tropical feel and look when you have a trunk as opposed to a clumping palm. Just my 2 cents!! :)

I disagree that roebelinii's quickly outgrow their space (3rd posting from the top). I have several of these in my house, including 2 that are 9/10 feet tall (see pic below). The bigs ones I've only had for a few months but the smaller ones I've been growing for a couple years now. They go outside in the summer and back indoors when we get cold. They grow ever so slow but still remain very healthy when both indoors and out. From everyone I've talked to about this specie, they are insanely slow and only grow a few inches per year tops. If anyone has any fast growing roebies please let me know what you're doing differently--I hate how small the little ones I have are!

I do love thoe roebelinis, though mine didn't live long enough to acheive those heights. Looking back however, my problems with it may have started from day one on it's arrival, since it had been much too long in the same cramped pot with very seious rootbinding, and I don't think the roots ever did adjust even after repotting it to bigger digs!! I have a suspcion that once rootbound in too small a pot for a long time , they're perhaps doomed since they won't take the normal root pruning that encourages other types of plants just to grow many new roots as the old pruned roots respond by growing many new branches!!

Holy Smokes ptmcclanahan - those roebelinii's are exactly what I am striving for. Those are show stoppers! They look great. I will be old and grey by the time my pygmy dates get to be that big as mine are about 2 feet. Judging by the photo, it looks as though you don't have them in full sun?? Now you have scared birdinthepalm about having them in too small a pot. I am always reluctant to transplant due to transplant shock, but I guess I better do that if I want to keep mine healthy.

Actually they have full south exposure so they have the sun beating on them a good portion of the day--this picture was taken at night. The pots I have are absolutely massive (33.5") but do the trick. Since potting these back in mid/late October I haven't lost a single frond, although no new growth has been found either. From all my experiences w/ Roebies, they transplant very well. Others say differently which I'm sure is valid, but just based on my experience alone they are great transplanters.

I now have 5 more roebies this size sitting in my garage too...all doing pretty well, they just would like it a touch warmer than 50s day/40s night.