fruiting bodies of the tall osmunda

osmunda roots used to be the prefered growing medium for orchid lovers as I understand it.

the roots are fibrous, threadlike, with fuzzies on them...lol. don't you just envy my scientific aplomb!? Have been enjoying watching the full year round of the ferns...We have so many that I'm still wondering in some cases, if it's osmunda or what? so many different types. Some are evergreen and some turn colour and die down with frost.
Thought at one point that it would be a good blog subject but my time management skills being what they are...the blog has not evolved...oh well. Had a good time this autumn photographing all the autumn fungi...have a file bulging with pics and no time to research them properly. I think that's the first frustration of aging...need to start a course of ginkgo biloba and tighten up my wig! organizational skills are the first to go! lol.
My poor orchids. I'm ashamed to say that there are two of them blooming and it's no credit to me...I keep promising them a nice shade house next spring but have to find a decent spot for them over winter in our tiny house.

Your comment prompted me to take a look at my notes, Bampy....I think this is the Matteuca ...not the Osmunda. There are Osmunda, matteuca, pteridium, etc. here. They are amazingly hardy. have been looking for a dependable site on the net to help identify all the ferns growing here abouts...I believed I mentioned on another pic that I had a problem with the neighbour's pigs eating wildflower rhizomes and fern rhizomes as well. There may be a war brewing here...they don't pen them and actually are using them to "clean out" their woodland area to help them to clear areas for pasturage for goats, pigs, a llama, and chickens...I'm just fed up with them eating all the vegetation on my side of the fence! (what fence?--it's a single strand of electrified wire!) and the small pigs just walk underneath it...while the larger ones have to dig a little trench to squeeze underneath...cagey critters.
so some of my ferns may be endangered...next spring will tell the tale. They have rooted out a huge fungal mycelium up on our hill so who knows what else they have destroyed along with the fungi, ferns and wild flowers....what a mess!