You should never prune a palm unless your removing old browning fronds. Palms only have one point of growth and removing that kills the palm.

I have seen palms in florida (Cabbage?) where the whole tree has been cut down to the ground yet there were small fronds growing out of the middle. Though that's not true with all palms and shouldn't be practiced with parlor palms.

I also would advise not to root prune as Palms don't respond well to any sort of root disturbance.

Palms cannot be kept as bonsais.

I did read up a bit on the root disturbance thing and you are correct-they do not like it. I guess I will transfer the plant at some point as it grows. The only thing I can succeed at down south indoors seems to be tropicals and a lot of those can grow and grow.

Any suggestions for a miniature upright growing plant that isn't a cacti or succulent?

Like you said they are sllllooowww growers so they'll probably be able to stay in that window for a couple years (maybe)

Honestly I have a total mind blank on plant species right now.... What way does the window face?

Thanks, Mr. Blubs and Purple. Since it is a slow grower, I don't suppose it will take over my house any time soon. The window is East facing and gets a fair amount of bright light, but I know it won't be enough for cacti. Funny you should mention the lucky bamboo, I actually have some in the same window. I'm trying to get the stuff to root since I bought a bunch with root rot off of ebay (grrr), had to trim the stalks, and it is taking for. ev. er. to put on roots.

I know this may seem weird, but my plants function a little bit as a privacy barrier, while still letting in enough light, since I don't want to put up curtains in this rental. That's why the hanging and the upright growing plants are preferred. The parlor palms are even better because they grow upright and are bushy.

The thing with Parlour Palms, Chamaedorea elegans, is they're single trunk palms that only grow to about 2 metres tall. They're mostly sold in pots that have had a handful of seed planted in them giving them that clumpy/bushy look. Because they're normally slow growing and the fact that they're over crowded means the growth rate will be very reduced. You'll have very small plants there for a long long time.

Thanks, tropic! This is good news. They really are adorable when they are small like this. Not that they look bad as larger plants, but I mean, come on, who doesn't love a mini-palm? : )

I also pile plants in front of the family room window, some hanging & a double row of non-hanging ones, & we don't close the blinds while plants are inside.

Let's see. Spider plants are nice privacy barriers, Spathiphyllums have great potential.

also, Sansevierias are a great candidate. You could grow Epiphytic cacti in an east facing window so long as it's in the window and not 2 or 3 feet away.

pothos or philodendron growing up a trellis or moss pole. Syngoniums.

I'll keep adding on as I think of them.

Thank you, laticauda. I had never considered the epiphytic cacti. Will definitely research this.

I do have some philo cuttings starting right now in the bathroom window and a pink fittonia. (will probably kill the fittonia--have heard they are fragile). We will see how it goes!