My Australian tree fern comes back!

This large tree fern, which I grew from a sprout, was basically left for dead by the bad caretaker I had here in the fall. When I returned in late December, most of the fronds were brown (you can see the brown stumps where I cut them off) and there was no sign of new life in the hollow at the tree’s core. But after weeks of vigorous watering, I began to see and feel the nubbly round spots that indicate a new frond is about to unfurl. And now there are at least 15 or 16 of these baby curled-up fronds shooting out of the hollow and getting ready to stretch out into their full green length. In the face of all the other current disasters, this little reversal has given me a small but definite sense of hope.