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| Big ol' cedar tree |
I am so lucky to live in a place where magnificent old growth trees are everywhere in the forests just a quick drive from my home. Last Thursday I admired this pretty tree, amongst the big old trees we hiked past. I like the bark on the cedar trees especially, but I also love the old fir trees with deep pits in their bark.
The ferns in this part of the country pretty much stay around all winter long, with new growth coming out in the spring, but rarely do they just turn yellow and die, as they do in colder and drier environments. The ferns in our forests add green beauty all year long. I found this information about PNW ferns:
The Pacific Northwest is home to about forty species of ferns. They can be found in nearly every area of our region, and so there are many appropriate for nearly every garden condition, even sunny rock gardens! True, the majority are shade and moisture lovers and are thought of as a backbone of the shade garden and rightly so. Evergreen or deciduous, they are virtually disease and pest-free, and can provide a range of textures and heights. (from Portland Nursery website)
I can now distinguish several varieties from one another, but my favorite will always be the pretty maidenhair fern. I look for it whenever I'm out and about. This year, I look forward to being able to hike with my Senior Trailblazers once again, and hope I will be in line to get the new coronavirus vaccine sometime early in the year. This past year was really only survivable for me because of being able to get out most weeks with my friend Melanie on some familiar hikes.
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| Maidenhair ferns |
Now that we have begun a new year, with a promise of a return to some semblance of normalcy, I can begin to dream of trips into the High Country again. I've missed them!
:-)
Maidenhair Fern is one of my favourites too, and I love big trees!
ReplyDeleteI love your huge trees! Your trees are so much larger than any we have here! I hope you get the shot soon and your hikes can resume! We need a little normal:)
ReplyDeleteI am a committed tree hugger and love your ferns as well. We are too dry for them to thrive here and seeing them in their 'home environment' is a treat.
ReplyDeleteI hope (probably nearly as much as you) that you can return to the High Country - and soon.
I also love the maidenhair fern but it doesn't like me. So I keep buying another pot and hoping it will thrive.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm definitely not a pessimist but hold on. We'll be at least another year in this mess. Too many not following guidelines. Problems with getting vaccinations done. and then the wackos who refuse the vaccine.
ReplyDeleteI hope you get your wish and get an early vaccination. I think that it will be months for me, as it should be because I am not very old yet, or alone, or compromised. Still, I do want to get on with the show.
ReplyDeleteI think we have come to realise just how much we all need the green spaces. You are fortunate to have the trees and ferns within easy reach. I am hoping to get the vaccination before Easter so fingers cross that by the summer some sort of normality might be back.
ReplyDeleteThose huge trees are just majestic and the maidenhair ferns are such a delicate contrast. I hope you get to hike with your friends again soon, too. :)
ReplyDeleteI am with y'all in loving what mother nature gives us daily. It's just being able to get out and enjoy it...that is what counts!!
ReplyDeleteYou are well enough to hike. That is good news. I love maidenhair too.
ReplyDeleteThe good thing even with this dreaded pandemic is that you have still been able to enjoy your wonderful environment if the numbers of you at a time had to be limited. Looking forward to the long line of trailblazers once again also.
ReplyDeleteWhat beauty ! We are known as the City of Cedars they are everywhere, entire forests of them and the smell is intoxicating.
ReplyDeleteI love wild ferns, especially the Maidenhair Ferns with their pretty foliage.
Hopefully 2021 will be a little more forgiving to us, and some sort of normalcy will return, I'm hopeful :)
Hugs,
~Jo
Just beyond our reach yet, but close! Soon.
ReplyDeleteDear DJan, thanks for showing us the maidenhair fern. I never knew what it was called. I so hope that the logistics of getting the vaccine in everyone's upper arms/shoulders will be worked out and all of us will soon be able to freely go out and about. But especially I hope this for those, like you, who are "extroverts" and absolutely rejoice being in the presence of others. As an introvert, the past year was not so difficult for me since I can even order groceries online. My only concern was vision and Meniere's and I've learned to live with both and simply rejoice, as you always do, in the wonder of my life for which I am deeply grateful. But I so hope that you will soon be able to resume your walking/hiking weekly adventures with your friends. Peace.
ReplyDeleteNice. I'm not a fern fan myself, but around where I live the ferns are the first to come up in the spring so I'm always glad to see them.
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