Please, Please ...

Recently a dear friend asked me if I've ever eaten fiddleheads. 

Have I ever consumed miniature packets of potential, bundles of soon-to-unfurl beauty?

No way, no how.

Ferns are among the most tenacious of garden ladies. 

While other plants continue to snooze under winter blankets of cold leaves and chilly air, 

ferns stretch their lovely limbs and gather weakly-warm sunbeams. 

And like this intrepid example, they grow anywhere a spore may land—even on

 the face of a brick wall in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. 

My vacationing family kept walking while I lagged behind to admire, and be inspired by, this 

persistent plant—untended, unplanned, and possibly only appreciated by me.

And now, you. 

There's much to learn from this unlikely teacher, the humble fern. 

 So please, please—don't eat the fiddleheads. 

***

Other garden ladies I've observed here and here.