The unfurling and uncurling of spring is now taking place in gardens all around me. This miraculous process is one that I love to watch. The emerging leaves or flowers give only a little hint of the final show!
“I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.” ~ Ruth Stout
Watch the Christmas ferns bending over backward as their fronds uncurl.
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
The ‘Lady in Red’ ferns unfurl in red, but their leaflets turn green while the stems stay red.
Athyrium filix-femina 'Lady in Red'
The next picture is one that I am submitting to the Gardening Gone Wild Picture This contest for May. The unfurling leaves of the Crimson King maple, though red, remind me of newly emerging bat wings drying in the sun. Or what I imagine they would look like. I love how the early morning sun lights up the leaves against the clear blue sky.
Crimson King maple
