Most people are familiar with the beautiful fern which is common in Virginia and Carolina. The plants thrive in the lush undergrowth of forests and they like shady, moist areas.
What you may not know about the fern, is what it looks like when it is producing in the spring. The beautiful, lush plant that most of us are familiar with is only part of the life cycle of the fern. They die back in the winter, turning yellow, red, or brown and wilt down to the ground. But in the spring, there sprouts forth from the ground this alien looking little thing. The sprouts are called fiddleheads. They are curled up fronds of the fern plant and they slowly unfurl, over a week or so after they come out of the ground.
The first time I remember seeing fiddleheads was in the late 70s when I was in the woods in front of my parents' house doing a photowalk. I didn't know what these things were coming up out of the ground. When I developed the film and did a print, they reminded me of a group of people talking and yammering at each other.
So enjoy the gallery of fiddlehead pictures, as well as pictures of ferns in their decayed state and at their full growth. I've even included a scan of the negative from the 70s that sparked my original interest.
Most of the below pictures were made in the Fries, VA area. Scroll down to see the full gallery.
