the ferny grotto beneath the three white pine

Aww this is gorgeous, it must be amazing being there amongst the lovely new bright green fronds Lori..

There are three or four different types of fern growing everywhere, Ydd! will have to get photos of them and post...like the mosses and lichens they seem to populate the shady margins of the forest. Some of the larger rocks are totally covered by three or four different types of moss all growing happily together. It's been such an education, as I spend a lot of time online trying to figure out which ones I have!

It looks so cool !

the white pine is an amazing tree...it sheds some of it's needles every year and the result is a lovely resinous carpet ...it's acid too, so only the most acid loving plants survive in the heavy shade and acid soil beneath their branches. Among the ferns I've found dozens of tiny JITP. It does appear that they multiply fairly rapidly as last spring there were only a few but after I cut down the ash seedlings which were trying to take over ...the ferns and the Jacks have come along much better. The Jacks which were small last year are much larger and more prominent now.