i have this love affair with ferns. it dates back to my childhood growing up in a valley northeast of gig harbor. we had the "thousand acre woods" behind our house, where sword ferns grew magically tall compared with my childhood stature. those woods were my home for horseback riding, hiking, adventuring, and even a scary moment or three. i commented to a coworker today about the relationship between plants and people and that our deep connections to plants are borne from our physical relationships to them, often relating to childhood memories. my love of nature is what brought me to horticulture. as early as six i would venture out into my mom's garden and dig spanish blue bells and put them in wooden containers and decorate our court yard. i still remember the sweet smell of alyssum and tight lawn from my grandma and grandpa burki's garden, the peach tree that grew at my other grandma and grandpa payne's beach house, and my father's italian plum and hazel nut trees. i would feed my horse apples that grew on the golden delicuous tree near his pasture. i would swing from the big leaved maple's strong branches. and i would sweep the floor of my playhouse with fir bows. those plants, insignificant in variety and rarity, make me who i am today. it is that sense of wonder and more importantly for me, a connection that seems second hand, and older than i. so, here is my omage to ferns. my first love.
and if you are interested, please join me at the Bellevue Demonstration garden this Saturday for my talk on Ferns for the Northwest Shade Garden!
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