I googled Areca Palm and they look close to Majesty Palms. If its one of the those types, they are the easiest to take care of. I have one, they get distressed very easy. I set mine on a covered porch that almost never went under 40 degrees in the winter. If it did i put a space heater on it. The problem is they need to kept inside during the winter and they start to brown out the tips of the palms if they do not get a lot of light. I had 4 cfl spot lights about 2 ft away from it and it helped some. Next winter I will buying some shop lights for it and the rest of my over wintered tropicals.

I googled the Areca Palm care and here is a link for you. As for the price 29 bucks seems a little high. I have seen palms at home depot and low's for half that. I would price check them before purchasing them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Areca Palm Care

Areca palm grows well in zone 9a-11. Anything colder might seriously damage it. It is not the best palm for TX. There are a lot of different other cold hardy palm trees that will do very well in zone 8, like Chinese Fan Palm or Needle palm.

I have a link to the Areca Palm article that will give you more information.

Here is a link that might be useful: Areca Palm Tree

Option #1: Course the reason you want them is to screen out the screamers next door, so the queen palm and needle palm really won't serve the purpose. We had some screamers next door to us when I was a kid and my mom used to place a radio on the kitchen windowsill, tune it to classical music and crank it all the way up. When the neighbors got frustrated trying to hear each other over the radio they'd go in their house. I think after mom did that a couple times they got the message.

Option #2: My ex used to yell at me al the time, including when I was out doors, apparently in an effort to humiliate me in front of the neighbors. I was so used to being yelled at for every little thing, I never really thought about the fact that this might be viewed by others as assault. Finally, (mercifully) one of my dear neighbors called the police and reported that he was abusing me. One visit from the cops and a citation for spousal abuse(misdemeanor) and he stopped doing that.

Just a couple different options for you that you may consider other than spending a lot of money on expensive plants. However, I have areca palms in Fort Worth area and they do fine here. You have to take them inside in winter. I don't think it's the lack of light that causes the leaf tips to brown, but the dry indoor air. I usually mist mine while they are inside, because as a tropical, they are conditioned for moist heat. Oh, and just think how graceful, lush and cool they'd look on your upstairs porch

Cheryl

I love my majesty palms on my north facing patio with fake wicker furniture. They look very tropical and soften the otherwise squarish brick patio. My research told me that they don't like being cold at all, but because I found mine at a Fiesta grocery store for $10 each, I figured I could always go back and buy some others if they died over winter. (Or got to big for my patio)

Do you have Fiesta grocery stores in San Antonio? They often times have a good selection of various tropicals in good sizes for $10. Our local store has the plants totally in doors back by the bakery and small floral section.

They got a bit brown on their tips with all the light freezes here (NW Houston zone 8/9 line) we had this winter, but as soon as they were mostly brown I whacked them off and new fronds appeared soon afterwards. Now, they're gorgeous again. They do like to drink, and mine appear to have some low-level spotting on the leaves, but I'm always of the attitude that for $10 bucks each, it's cheaper than cut flowers if I need to replace one.

I'll have to look for a photo of our patio and post a picture when I find one.

Your porch sounds great, too bad you've got those neighbors!