Last year I bought a Bowenia serrulata (September 2009) which went straight into the garden. It sat there for months but just recently started to produce a new frond. The original two fronds didn't look the best after having been through the mail. Now that it seems to have settled in I'm hoping it'll produce a few more so it can at least look like what I'm used to seeing. So far it's still looking a bit spindly but given a couple of more weeks the new frond should have filled out.
Late September 2009 I also got a Bowenia spectabilis. It was a very small plant but had been damaged during a transplant. I decided I'd try to save it (against all odds). The couple of small fronds it had fell off. But I cut the broken off end of the caudex cleanly, dipped it in cinnamon powder and planted it in clean sand. It was left in the garden where it got watered each day by the automatic sprinkler system.
Several weeks back I noticed what seemed (hoped) to be some "movement" at the top of the caudex. Slowly it became apparent that there was some growth starting up. I gave it weak fertiliser solution, sometimes fish/seaweed emulsion, sometimes a weak solution of old poultry manure. Finally a frond is beginning to unravel. I'm really stoked, chances of survival were really probably in the order of 1:1000.
This is today's photo.
Close up.
It looks like life is emerging. Good thing you didn't throw it in the garbage.
This is today for the serrulata.
And today for the spectabilis. Certainly does look better than it would have in a compost heap.
The new Bowenia serrulata frond has completely opened out and looks great.
And the Bowenia spectabilis is doing well but has a long way to go to catch up.
