Dear Reader:

While I was walking around taking photos of decorated fall designs on homes in the neighborhoods near me Monday…I came to a dead end and there was the most breath-taking fern forest, for lack of a better description, with these beautiful lavender wild flowers  peeking out among the fronds.

The first ferns appear in fossil record over 360 million years ago. The current families and species of ferns we enjoy today appeared about 145 million years ago. They only appeared after flowering plants came to dominate many environments.

Ferns have a spiritual symbolism that means “sincerity.” What you see is what it is…faithful and beautiful. It has been used for medicinal purposes by the Native-Americans in the past and today scientists have recognized the fern’s ability to remove some chemical pollutants from the atmosphere.

Ferns are member of vascular plants that produce spores and have neither seeds or flowers.

The tightly curled fronds of young ferns are deceptive (appearing like a curled human fetus) and it would be impossible to guess what a full grown fern would look like at this stage of development. Human kind is the same. Our consciousness must be awakened through life experience, learning, and awareness. Like the fern, we grow and flourish if we unfurl toward light or truth. The more we unfurl, the more the tendrils of our true nature begin to show as we loosen, surrender and soften, releasing and opening as we let go of old stories and rigidly constructed belief systems which contribute to negative patterns of behavior. . The example of a slow, but steady opening toward light is the miracle of Mother Nature’s creation and is exemplified in the model of the fern.  (Why the Fern? …Fern Life Center)

The Finnish have an interesting folklore take that involves ferns and Mid-Summer’s Eve (Summer Solstice)

A will o’ the wisp  is the phenomenon of seeing a far-away light at night, very similar to a flickering lamp, which seems to move away if you get closer.

In most European folklore traditions will o’ the wisps are usually associated to fairy lights.

…But in Finland they believe that will o’ the wisps are lights that mark the spots where treasures are hidden. According to a Finnish myth, if someone finds the seed of a fern on Midsummer night (as ferns are said to bloom once a year, precisely on the Summer Solstice) he/she will be transported, invisibly, to the places protected by the will o’ the wisps, where these fantastic treasures are hidden, and which only the holder of the fern seed can see.

*Darn…I will have to wait until Midsummer’s Eve next year to go hunting for a fern bloom….but now I know where to go!

I have several ferns, the Boston, asparagus, and rabbit ones.

The ”Good Luck” plant! Rabbit’s Foot Fern is sometimes called the ”Good Luck” plant because of its brown, fur-like rhizomes.  This fern grows 12-18” tall, and does well in direct sunlight or under lights. (I bought this good luck plant and put it in a basket hanging down from the front yard Bradford Pear. )

After one storm one of the wires broke…and it was hanging upside down…so I literally stuffed the pot and plant into a “seat” in the tree (among three branches) and forgot about it. Now it has literally grown into the tree and is part of it…really cool!

So until tomorrow remember…Everything in life has a story…even the ones who go back hundreds of millions of years ago…isn’t that mind-boggling? These beautiful plants have a never-ending tale to tell.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

More time well-spent at the Tea Room yesterday…it was decorated so whimsically for fall. (Instead of “Three Pines” in Summerville we have “Three Oaks” beside the Tea Room.

This tray was so beautiful! And dessert even better…lemon cake with blueberries/whipped cream.

Look who showed up next to me (right by my feet on the grass) while watering the garden yesterday…it patiently waited for me to take its picture and then slowly flew off….a moth on a mission. (or a butterfly…still can’t keep them separated this time of year) *I want to call every pretty winged creature a monarch.