After the floral hurly burly of the Southport flower show pictures, a calmer moment with nature: close ups of a tree fern (Dicksonia antarctica Labill.) taken with my iPhone at the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam. I don’t know about you, but I need little more than neat green fronds to put my mind into flow.
As I was cropping these pictures, I could feel the soothing quality of the plant’s patterns and was drawn into contemplating the nice balance of freedom and restraint (rigidity and curl). The finger-like fronds of the tree fern echo, overlap and, rarely, rebel; there’s a turn and turnabout feel and a reaching out as if the parts of the plant are sensitive and cooperating.
Spending time with this large, lush plant was like meeting an interesting stranger I’ll remember with fondness.
Shared as part of Cee’s FOTD.
Susan Rushton 
Yes. Lovely contemplative images.
Thanks Margaret.
Because I live in the woods, ferns have been friends for many years. Not only do they grow in the woods at the edge of our yard, but they also grow along the side of our house, where it’s too shady for anything else to grow. As you indicated, ferns have a calm, peaceful beauty, and it is always a pleasure to look at them.
That must be lovely.
It really is.
I can hear the “ohm”s, Susan, looking at them. Wow. Perfect title and subject.
I’ve never been to a yoga class but my sister is a firm believer.
Love the calm feel. 🙂
The power of green!
An interesting stranger with ‘frondness’. 🙂
I wish I’d thought of that one 🙂
Sacred geometry!
Quite!
For some reason–and I didn’t do it, it just happened–my texting profile pic is a New Zealand silver fern cropped closely. Since I love NZ and silver ferns, I’ve kept it.
That was a happy coincidence.
Such nice patterns. I’ve always loved ferns. They grow mostly north of us and when I’m headed up to the woods I always know I’ve arrived when there are ferns growing under the trees alongside the road.
We have lots of wild ferns where I live, but not as magnificent as this one was. It must be amazing to be able to see tree ferns growing in the wild. I sometimes see them in gardens, but they need protection from our winters.
I’ve never thought of ferns in such a way, and I’m wondering if all photographers acquire such insights as they crop or otherwise sculpt their images. Thanks for a new way of looking!
I was taken with the patterns on the plant and knew it would make an interesting picture, but hadn’t anticipated their powers to relax. I imagine it taps into something a hypnotist might employ by swinging a pendulum.
I had a good time scrolling your photos up and down and watching the patterns create movement. I definitely think I could have hypnotized myself doing that. Maybe I did!
We have tree ferns at the Garfield Park Conservatory – marvelous plant. Excellent photographs.
They’ve been growing on me. It’s usually their craggy bases that catch my attention but the whole plant is decorative.