As with most of the outside palms, I used the opportunity provided by the warmth in mid April to re-pot the larger Phoenix canariensis. It's a little early in the year for re-potting in the UK, but having been in a damaged pot for some time this plant needed a new pot as early as possible. Because of the warm weather and a week without watering while I was away, this plant would have had problems left in the old pot, as it was very difficult to get any moisture into the soil with large areas of the old pot cracked. Many of the roots were exposed and the dry atmosphere would have air pruned any exposed roots very quickly. On removal of the old pot, I could see that the roots were otherwise very healthy amd the compacted rootball was certainly due for a little more space. I used a similar potting mix for each of the outside palms, very loose and airy. Whilst it won't retain as much moisture as the previous mix, it will allow for easier root growth and the size of the pot means that there will be sufficient moisture for relatively infrequent watering, even in hot, dry weather.