I have been pathetically trying to help a member with a fern question. Also I pathetically couldn't find that there was an actual Ferns Forum, despite the fact that I posted to it at one time. I don't know why I couldn't find this forum. Let's just blame it on my bad eyesight.

Is there someone who could move her thread to the Ferns Forum from the Ask a Question Forum? She might be able to get one of you experts to help her. (and don't snicker too loudly at what I posted.) Or conversely, you could answer it right where it's at.

So anyway, her thread is in the Ask a Question forum and the subject is 'Autumn Fern Help'. She goes by @chickhill.

Please and thank you.

tx_flower_child, I have eye seeing problems also not to mention brain freeze/fog

@chickhill
I went over and read the posts from the other forum, and looked at the photos. I have no idea what those are, but I am going out and look at my autumn ferns (I have several different ones) and see if there is anything like that around them.

@Seedfork, they are between the new stems/fronds. Don't know if they're old stem remnants or what. I peeled some off and planted.

I went out and looked at several of my Autumn ferns, the only thing I found that even looked remotely close were some old dead fiddleheads.

So I chopped off the bottom part but the top just looked like a black blob.


So I am thinking yours still had some green so they were be at a different stage, but still as black and rotted as mine were they still looked like fiddleheads up close.
In the photo with you holding them in your hand I can see one of the objects near the center that looks like it has the remnant of a stem? Could they be fiddleheads? What was the center of the fern like? Did it look slimy or rotten? Did it look green and healthy?

@chickhill -

Stopped at North Haven Gardens, one of my favorite nurseries, and took a look at their Autumn ferns. All of them have the little aliens, whatever they are called. I see now that I should have taken one of the ferns off the rack to get a better picture. But here you go.

The fern itself:



and the Martians

Tx Flower Child,

I assume you got an answer to this, but those are just the new buds forming for the new fiddleheads which will grow into fronds...

Jennifer

Thanks, Jen. Yes, I pretty much knew what they were but her pictures were confusing me.

So here's a picture of some cute little fiddleheads popping back up. They always make me grin.