One of the neat things this time of year...

...Is the return from dormancy of our Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis).

It's a splendid creature right now. But for more than half the year it's just a sort of leafless stump. Spring comes, the garden explodes with growth...and still no Royal Fern. Every year Charlene and I wonder if it has died.

And then in May the fiddleheads start to emerge. Now it's about 3' in diameter. Those yellow stalks sticking up above are the "fertile fronds," that carry the spores.