Features

Frosty ferns of fall

ESCANABA -- Frosty ferns earthy brown, autumn leaves all around!

When the nights grow cold and nip the forest floor, bracken ferns turn to bronze and gold!

Bracken ferns are a very important native ground cover in northern Michigan. Such a vital part of the forest understory, ferns shade the ground, prevent soil erosion, hold moisture, and provide food and cover for many types of wildlife.

Upper Michigan has over sixty species of wild ferns, but the bracken fern is one of the most abundant and popular.

In the fall, small game hunters are happy to see the fern killing frosts. Now grouse, hare and squirrels are more visible on the ground.

Hikers, hunters, foragers, fishermen and wildlife photographers have all wandered through a crisp field of ferns. The bracken ferns have a spicy aromatic smell that's all their own after they start to fade.

Somewhere between cinnamon and nutmeg, the ferns flavor the autumn air. There's nothing like the brittle sound of a hound or a human thrashing through a bunch of bracken ferns.

After the ferns have been frosted a couple of times, even a tiny mouse sounds like a moose coming through them.

Bracken ferns grow anywhere there is an opening in the woods. They thrive in poor soil along country roads and old farm fields. An autumn walk would not be complete without getting some dried ferns stuck to your woolen socks or shirt tails.

Bracken ferns are called brackens because they branch out, usually forming limbs with three parts. Green and supple in early summer, but by September the two- to three-foot-high bracken fern stalks are tough enough to cut your fingers. Bracken ferns can be toxic to humans (if not picked and prepared correctly). Ostrich ferns are the ones famous for tasty fiddleheads.

Upper Michigan has a whole host of beautiful ferns like the Christmas fern, maidenhair fern, royal fern, and horsetail fern just waiting to be photographed. From the wetlands to the riversides to the sandy beaches, every niche has a fern to thrive there.

How fast ferns spring up after the snow melts. How cool they are cushioning and shading the Earth all summer. How fantastic the fronds are in the fall of the year when they take their final bow!