Nor did I need to. A dear friend lived in a rainforest, and tree ferns kept popping up in her drive. We cut them off at the base, without bothering to dig out a root, because the trunk itself is actually the tree fern's root structure. If you cut a tall soft tree fern into two, or even three big hunks, you should end up with three tree ferns.

We soaked them overnight, planted them about a metre deep, stamped them in well, and watered the tops, not the bottoms. Always water the top of a tree fern, not all around it, though creating more humid air and dappled sunlight may help stop the leaves browning in mid summer.

One of ours sits lush and elegant by our top step. Now that Val is long gone from us, it is lovely to be stroked every day by the fronds from a friend.

We already had tree ferns growing in the rainforest gullies and even worn out orchards here. They were still there at the end of my first drought here. I began to realise that tree fern growing wasn't as complicated as I thought - if you had exactly the right soil and a protected spot to grow them.

I mentioned this theory on ABC radio. An elderly gardener rang in - his tree fern had gone madly maternal and was throwing out babies all over the place. Would I like a dozen? The fern had been planted by someone else. He'd ignored it until he saw all the young ones.

I drove to his place and there it was, about two metres high growing in almost pure clay. It was also growing next to his downpipe, which meant it had the overflow from the gutter on his roof, probably rich in decayed leaf matter, and also shelter from hot or cold or simply ferocious winds.

Our ferns are also neglected, just as they have been until gardeners began to think they should be tended. They look lush, dismal or dead according to the season. In drought years they lose their greenery entirely, but grow back.

Except in the last drought. The tree ferns had long lost their leaves by the end of it, but I wasn't worried. (There were more critical matters to worry about).

I'd seen a tree fern stay leafless for three to five years but return. Sure enough, only two of our tree ferns are still leafless. I'll wait another 18 months before assuming they are deceased.

I don't feed our tree ferns - they're fed by the decaying matter of plants and insects caught in their tops that slowly decomposes. I am greatly in favour of any advice that says "do nothing". What tree ferns really need is protection from winds, and lots of water, or rather frequent water, but not necessarily very much of it. The brown water from decayed leaves is excellent for this, but not essential. Watering, however, is.

The older branches/leaves/fronds will grow brown when you have hot, dry winds or the plant isn't getting enough water. Prune the brown leaves off, so the tree fern keeps looking elegant, waving its skirts in the slightest breeze.

If you want to grow your own, look for the spores - like small seeds- on the back of the leaves, then look up "growing ferns". I've grown the tree ferns by placing a hunk of leaf spore side down on good very wet potting mix, then enclosing the lot in a bottle or paper bag. Wait, and do nothing. After about a month you should see a moss like growth on the soil. The actual baby tree ferns will grow from this. Leave till they are at least a finger high before planting out.

If you are buying a tree fern, look for it's certificate of "garden grown" - thieves have ruined too much rainforest digging them out to sell. "But I'm only taking a couple," a Canberra tourist complained when I'd found her digging out tree ferns by the side of the road. I pointed out that she was the third I'd caught "just taking two" that week.

Look at the base. If it is dry, don't buy it. You want moist and spongy. Expect it to grow up to a metre a year if you look after it well. A happy tree ferns lives hundreds of years.