Fern III

     Fern sits on a table in the bay windows of our bedroom.  She is thriving.  So very many, many people would be pleased about that.
     In the 1980s, Fern’s grandmother lived in the Ocean Park Timberland Library.  She was a Deer Foot Fern and I often stopped to talk with her, marveling at her furry feet (rhizomes, I was told) that crept over the edge of the big pot she sat in.  One day, Sue Cowell, who worked at the library, asked me if I’d like a cutting.  She and Librarian Bonnie Sayce were transplanting Fern to a bigger pot that afternoon.
     Fern II was sort of puny by comparison to her mother, but she soon filled out and needed to be transplanted herself.  Visitors to the house often referred to her as a Rabbit or Hare Foot Fern or even a Squirrel Foot Fern.  Her scientific name is Davallia and her common name is Foot Fern – any number of ‘foots,’ apparently.  One reference said that the color of the rhizomes of a particular plant determine the animal it is associated with – white, for instance with Rabbit as in Peter Cottontail.
     Fern II lived with us for almost twenty years and, by the time we sold the house to Ann Chiller, she was much too big to move.  Besides, she and the house seemed perfect for each other and we didn’t want to break up such a happy relationship.  So, Ann inherited the plant.
     Several years ago Ann, in her turn, sold the house.  Before she moved she brought us a present – a small cutting from Fern II.  And so Fern III began her sojourn here in Oysterville.  She is surrounded by books which must resonate in some primordial fashion, hearkening back to the library of her grandmother’s time.  She has outgrown several pots and has flourished even with my somewhat haphazard care.
     I’m not certain where her forebears are these days.  Perhaps still at the library and at our once-upon-a-time bay house.  I’ll have to check.