Best is to drive around Palm Desert and see what palms are planted and surviving.

Palm books can be frustrating because there are so many that can't be grown outside of the sub/tropics.

Eureka,

Betrock's Cold Hardy Palms (1st edition 2005) by Alan W. Meerow is an excellent palm book that covers all the palms from A to Z that can be grown in your area (zone 9).

Also talking to professional palm growers (nurseries) on specific palms can be quite beneficial.

regards,
Markywonder
Hartford, Connecticut zone 6A

I also highly encourage Betrock's Cold Hardy Palms book--very good for those living in colder than zone 10! It lists a lot of palms that would be suitable for California zone 9.

Mark

Thank you for your quick responses, very much appreciated. I'm sorry if my wording mixed you up, I don't need a book for my zone of 9 but for his zone in Palm Desert which remains substantially warmer through winter, down right balmy. Nights go into the 50's but not much lower.

I went to Amazon to see the offerings but was not impressed. I was hoping to trip across a publication from a well known Univ. who had done studies.

Palm Desert has many queen palms planted by the city especially. Think I will locate a nursery in his area to see what they can offer. He buys his palms from a grower in Indio. Not sure how educated this grower may be, he may just be a guy that can plant the seeds, grow the trees and sell them. But as we often find, the plants look just great at the business establishment but once in our home, after very careful preparation of the hole, additional amendments, special fertilizers, correct watering, the plant flops over and dies. I find this very frustrating.

Thanks again for your time. I will check out the book suggested as I know queen palms can tolerate temps into the high 20's so should also provide info on the year round care I would think.