No real secret to growing the easiest hybrids with Anigozanthus flavidus parentage, but they do prefer both good drainage and regular warm season irrigation. In habitat they even well tolerate seasonal winter flooding and summer wild fires. Full sun, good air circulation, planting out in cooler months to minimize drought stress,(typical nursery container mixes for them very quickly dry out if you aren't adequately wetting the root ball, and probably accounts for most plant deaths). They are extremely easy once established, but don't crowd the foliage or insist on overhead spray irrigation which encourages ink spot disease.

A 5 gallon nursery can with crammed roots in a south facing spot and only getting handwatered twice a week; you killed it from lack of water, plain and simple. I agree that Kangaroo Paws can be temperamental to grow with regard to drainage and proper watering, but the Anigozanthus flavidus cultivars are among the easiest to grow. Do amend the soils for good drainage, give it full sun and good air circulation and avoid overhead spray on the foliage if you want to minimize the Ink Spot disease, and regularly prune off infected foliage to the ground, especially if it isn't getting full sun and/or good air circulation. I have found that some species/cultivars of Anigozanthus are much more tolerant of clay soils than others, and any of the A. flavidus cultivars are fairly tolerant of clay, as well as it is sloped or amended slightly so that it doesn't stay saturated. Not a good candidate for planting where it gets constant overhead spray irrigation which in combination with too little full sun can lead to the fungal disease. While this plant is rather drought tolerant in the ground once it is established, as a container plant in its original size container from the nursery, twice a week watering in full hot sun just isn't enough, and you cooked it. Get another one now that it has cooled down, get it into the ground in full sun with good drainage, and the twice a week watering regimen will probably work just fine. If you prefer to keep it in a container, buy a smaller one gallon, repot into a larger 5 gallon container, and hook it up to an automatic drip irrigation system so that it gets a little bit every or every other day, or keep an eye on the plant so that it doesn't ever go bone dry between waterings.

I gave one a try last year - and just like Wallisadi said, mine also did not make it through the heat I grow a lot of Aussie orchids and they are not easy to grow - they all tolerate cold well and low humidity, but they do not want to get all hot and sweaty.... For example, both Australia and California are famous for their cymbidiums - which makes me think CA and Australia are more similar in their general growing climate than us. To grow cymbidiums in Fl, one has to find heat and humidity tolerant varieties... The Kangaroo plant sure was cute, I wish I still had it growing :) Olya

Well a lot has happened for my little fern... Good and bad. Namely, a beastly infestation of scale. I have sprayed several times and they haven't let up, but I am going to hit it again on a consistent 2-week basis and see what happens. She has grown more bushy, and I have given her deep, less frequent waterings with only filtered water. Even on her gorgeous, large, glossy new leaves, the veins are totally lined with tiny, evil scales. I've been scraping them off with my fingernails whenever I have the time and patience... questions: I just bought fish emulsion, will fertilizing help her fight off her attackers? I read that fern scale is worse indoors because they lack natural predators like parasitic wasps and lady bugs. Should I give her a summer on the east-facing covered porch, or is that inviting more trouble from exposure to other pests and diseases?