Ferns Unfurling

Ferns are at the foundation of my house.  For months we endure such cold, up here, so I love spring.   When I step outside and see everything waking up, there are these tropical looking plants.  Lush, green, shade-tolerant, they’re coming up all over the place.  With their elaborate cone networks hidden underground they could be be hard to manage if I try to manage them some year. Ferns are a species that hardly look like they belong in Minnesota, they’re tropical looking. But they established themselves in my yard years ago, stretching out underground on the edges.  I’m not from here, and you can tell.  But I find myself transplanted. Golden Valley is a first tier suburb of Minneapolis, about 5 miles from the city skyline.  Our two story 1955 farmhouse on a hill used to be surrounded by farm fields.  The pond across the road is now circled by cottonwoods, elms and buckthorn.  It collects rainwater and teems with life.  I like living i...