|
Here and There…Now and Then |
Are You Frond Of Ferns?
Or are you Pterrified of Pteridophytes? These are the sporangia of a sensitive fern Onoclea sensibilis. Aren’t they nice? It was much warmer today and I noticed the buds on a rose were already swelling. They won’t really start to grow for a while yet, but spring will be here sooner than you think.
Fertile Fern Fronds
This is a fertile frond of a fern growing in a shady corner of our garden. I believe it’s an ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) but it may be something else. I know I have a few ostrich ferns in that part of the garden, but there are other ferns and I don’t remember what they all are. Anyway, these ferns are dimorphic, with deciduous, green, sterile fronds and vertical, brown, fertile fronds. These give a nice element of interest in the winter and then the spores are released in the spring.
I would like to add more ferns to this part of the garden this spring. Last year we did very little gardening except for some weeding early in the spring. During the late spring and most of the summer we were overwhelmed with a lot of other tasks and the garden got away from us, big time. This coming spring, I’d love to get back out and take the garden back, but it’s going to be a big task. Not quite as daunting as taking a piece of wild land and putting it into cultivation, but not as far short of that as I’d like. Parts of the garden really need to be dug up completely and started over. There are a few plants we’d want to dig up and put into pots to return to the garden when the time comes, but for the most part, it just needs to be started over.
Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis)
At the north end of our front garden is a relatively shady spot with some ferns growing in it. There are wood ferns of some unknown variety, a few ostrich ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris), a Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum), and quite a bit of sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis). This is a fertile frond of the last of those and it’s quite elegant, to my way of thinking. This and the ostrich fern have their sporangia on separate, fertile fronds. Both are often found in particularly wet locations and this allows them to keep the spores safe and dry over the winter and then drop them in the spring. At least that’s my assumption. They make a nice winter interest in the garden, as well, although I don’t think they care about that, particularly. I did plant a royal fern (Osmunda regalis) in this part of the garden last year but I’m afraid it got eaten by something. If it doesn’t come up on the spring, I may try again, giving it a little protection until it gets big enough to fend for itself. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating, I’m frond of ferns.