Nice palm, I would surround it with some lirope, cycads and your favorite agave!

I would plant some aloe as they are useful plants to have if someone gets a burn and also look interesting while in bloom. I like plumerias but they grow like a tree, you could always hack it down. They have flowers that are awesome and many smell heavenly!

T.J.

I agree with T.J. I planted aloe(real fast growing) and some cactus, looks great and low maintainance. http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/wellsme/019.jpg http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/wellsme/016.jpg

I think some ginger (especially variegated shell ginger) would look fantastic. Philodendrons are a great idea with some bananas (especially dwarf cavendish bananas which wont get too huge). Some ferns would be great as ground covers and Gardenias would be a nice thing to add as well. If your going to plant cycads, try not to go for a sago palm. As much as I like them, I think they are really overused and Dioons usually have a much nicer color to them (usually a bluish color). Some clumps of rhapis, cat palms, and/or arecas would look great underneath your date palm as well. And some smaller heliconias would be great too. Most of the plants I mentioned can easily handle a light freeze so they should be great for a zone 9. But if your willing to have some plants as annuals or experiment with them in hopes for a mild winter, then you can also try a ti plant, croton, hibiscus, peace lilies (only if you manage to create full shade), and many others. They are cheap enough to replace every year, but as long as you dont get another cold winter for a while, they would actually be pretty long term survivors if your by the water in Tampa and south to Naples or so.