This picture isn’t here for any particular “pride of urnership“, but to illustrate my two wacking great ‘Kimberly Queen’ Australian sword ferns (Nephrolepsis obliterata). Both, you might have read, have spent the last few winters indoors.

In the urns. In my living room.

It has been a case of very big plants in a very small house, and it wasn’t going to happen this year.

So I spent part of this September-in-November afternoon prying the ferns from their moorings. I do not use the word “prying” lightly. At one point, I considered a crowbar. Many calories were burned in the prying process.

Then I split the ferns into seven or eight pieces. In the final stages, a pruning saw was needed. It’s a tough plant, the Kimberly Queen.

Two big chunks will find a home – somewhere – in the very small house for next year. The others were passalonged (yes, it’s a word) to neighbours, friends… and passing strangers. Want one?