No question the Mediterranean fan palm is the better choice from a hardiness and practicality standpoint but I disagree that these palms are "very similar". They might both be desirable for somewhat similar landscape effect but that is pretty much it.
Thank you for the video. My yard was landscaped less than 1 year ago and the pygmy date palm in my front yard gets full sun all day. It's getting badly sunburned this summer so I erected a PVC frame and covered it with shade cloth. Not sure if the tree's going to make it or not. If it doesn't, I'll surely get a Mediterranean Palm after seeing your video. Thank you for the info. Signed, Mark from Peoria, AZ.
Adding mulch around the base, maybe up to 12” out. Hopefully that’s helpful but they may also need fertilizer depending on the species and part of the country your in
My pygmy palm have such nasty spines on them, and it looks like the mediterranean palm has sharp bits too. I wear welder's gloves to prune them back but it's still a pain in the ass. If I were to start over I would have chosen something without spines instead.