Dicksonia antarctica

Dicksonia antarctica
Originally uploaded by emagen

And finally on the subject of ferns, an update on the Tree Ferns.
The Tree Fern in the photo (taken today) is busy making new fronds and influencing people. Despite losing all its fronds in the winter, it has sent out a large number of new ones and looks very happy.
My other, shorter Tree Fern does not look so healthy. I am used to the smaller Tree Fern sending up very large fronds and has always looked very healthy since planted 5 years ago. This year, although also losing all its fronds during the cold winter, I was not worried. Early in the Spring I could feel its coiled fronds within the central well.
But so far it has only sent up 2 new fronds and these seem quite weak, I can feel that there are other fronds ready to go but these feel smaller than usual. It could be due to the cold winter or, I wonder, if it is due to the dry Spring. In the last couple of weeks I've ensured that the trunk is kept moist and hope that this will do the trick.
Judging from the numbers of people finding this blog in answer to a Google search on why their Tree Ferns have died, it seems that this is a problem throughout the UK.
It also seems that the taller your Tree Fern the hardier it will be.