What a wonderful plant! I adore red and would get it in a heartbeat even though I am on the edge of it's hardiness zone like NHBabs. Babs did you end up getting one? If so would you give your experience with it.

Last year I noticed ferns up awfully high. I was told they do this over time. Most of them "bloomed" Some of them died. I was told it is not unusual for them to sort of grow themselves out of the soil. I decided they are so prolific that it doesn't really matter; however.

It certainly pays to hang on to a dormant tree fern for quite a while. One of my D. antarctica lost its fronds in January 1996 and I gave it up for dead, but left it where it was growing. In September 1997 it put out a frond and I moved it to a better position where it grew a full head of fronds. A few years ago I noticed that the crown looked a little odd, broader than usual, and to my delight, the crown began to split into two. So if damaged, this can happen although the self-sporing can also happen too in a very moist environment. Eventually my fern will, I assume, have a beautiful twin crown. Most of my tree ferns have been sporing for some time and I was very pleased a couple of years ago to find little Dicksonias all over the place - before long I'll have to hack my way through the jungle! Referring to the discussion about the basal regrowth, I don't know of any evidence that Dicksonia antarctica is capable of doing this. Dicksonia squarrosa certainly can - my 5ft specimen lost its crown through a falling branch and began to grow a basal shoot. I cut off the stem above the shoot and potted it, leaving the shoot to grow in situ, and to my surprise the potted stem grew another basal shoot, so I repeated the process and it grew a second shoot! I think now that it's had enough and the trunk is now beginning to rot! Still, two freebies was worth the trouble!

I think this convo spurred me to try again, and I got an Adiantum aleuticum 'Imbricatum', and it apparently likes where I planted it (outside..not a house plant), and still has nearly perfect fronds (mild winter), we shall see. They are lovely...though the challenge for me may be the wetness of early to mid spring for it. The planting location is on the north side of the house, and it gets shaded by a growth of mimulus alatus (winged monkey flower) and it came through summer fantastically. I hope to see spore spread in a year or two, shield fern, lady fern, and painted ferns have performed well for me here and spread along the house foundation area.