Woke to frost but – oh happy day – many of the ostrich ferns are showing signs of life. I love their dramatic unfolding: first a hint of green; then clear curls showing themselves; and finally, the swift, miraculous reach for the sky. I am particularly grateful for their emergence because I wasn’t sure any of them survived our first year with Finn. 
Thanks to Home Depot and my husband, they will be protected this season (thank you for the gardening tips, Mo!). By the way, does anyone know what you call the fern’s brown husky base? A ‘brown husky base’?
A slightly more decorative fence for the bottle tree-bed, below.
Meanwhile there is still a lot of mud to deal with. 
Last night, I couched black satin cording for the Sanders/Jackson label and embroidered the barber stripes. I’m finding it discordant with the other labels. 
Will look at it for a bit. We are off to Montreal soon in any case. Packing up Son Number One. The end of another era.
There is nothing so evocative of spring as the unfurling of the fiddleheads. They are such potent examples of life becoming. Your label does look different, but are you sure it doesn’t fit with the all over appearance of the back? Stepping back will help you decide, I’m sure.
It’s growing on me. Perhaps instead of lightening the inner heart object outlines, I’ll darken the script spelling out Susie Jackson’s name.
stipe? rhizome?
here’s a link to the botanical description of your fiddlehead or ostichs fern Matteuccia struthiopteris
https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/species/matteuccia/struthiopteris/
ostrich… I need another coffee!
Thanks Mo. The rhizome dwells below the surface. The brown husky part sits atop. I looked a little on the Internet this morning and found no term of art. This link doesn’t reveal one either. It may not have one.
in vegetable terms it’s called the crown ie aspargus crowns
Yup. Just confirmed on a fiddlehead site. I’ve never eaten any of these and I suppose I could!
I sauteed fiddle heads when they first appeared at the farmers market a few years back. Kind of gelatinous and okay tasting….good for us in nutritive ways but I don’t love them….I do love the full grown ferns however.