Masters of the Woodland Garden

[ellyssian]

Masters of the Woodland Garden
By Everett A Warren
August 31, 2007

"Ferns are friends, not food"
I paraphrase, squeezing the dialogue and ideas
from two children's films into a blender and pressing PURÉE
it elicits the proper giggles as they watch their step

Hay-scented ferns rise in gentle arcs surrounding the house,
filling the forest floor
climbing the shadowed side of the meadow'd hill
after the rain they earn their name
delicate aroma upon the wind

Starker and darker the bracken fern stand
self-same structures branching in trine
filling the edges where more light reaches
antagonistic roots claiming their territory
friend to some, enemy to others

Soft and quiet, lush light green, sensitive fern lies low
creeping in almost unnoticed, spreading year by year
now becoming a presence of beauty and delicacy in the lawn itself
amid the hostas and around the house

Evergreen the Christmas fern
shall remain long after its fellows have faded to brown and beyond
'neath the river birch and along Stone Stream
it clings awaiting its time to shine in the colder seasons

From shadows rise the sword ferns, children of the west,
hiding behind evergreen shrubs,
they will rise as the shrubs do, for they are but daggers now

Tall and stately the royal fern shall be, with sweet fern and winterberry
sharing an island in the stream, to tower over all others
save, perhaps, the ostrich fern which will also rise to great heights

The interrupted fern and the evergreen wood fern
provide additional diversity mixed in amongst the rest
but the cinnamon fern's fertile fronds will stand tall and dark
a centrepiece amongst the foliage, soft and green
the ferns define the landscape
the masters
of the woodland garden

Copyright (c) 2007 Everett Ambrose Warren