Don’t even look at her. If you do she drops leaves; actually, I think she throws them at you! She’s temperamental today and clearly unhappy.

This lovely fern was given to me by a neighbour. It thrived in her garden all summer and she didn’t want to see it go to waste when the cold weather hit; it wouldn’t survive in her home over winter either as they head south once the snow flies.

So here she is. When she arrived in September she lived in our, unheated, sunroom which was quite lovely. Sun-warmed days, cool quiet nights…

Then it happened. She slipped my mind. And I remembered her yesterday when the temp in the sunroom hovered around zero and her soil dry as can be. She was turning yellow. ‘Holy Dina I’ve done it again!’ I thought. Panic!

After a good drink and a light trim here she sits. In all her glory. On our dining room table…where she is safe…for now.