On Thursday Brian brought the hand truck around to the garden, and I knew without asking what it meant. The ferns were going in.
I love watching him do it. He tips each one back against his shoulder, gentle as can be, and walks it down the brick path to the fernhouse. There are twenty of them, every one big and full from a summer outdoors, and the three banana plants go last. By the time he's finished, the garden looks a little bare and the fernhouse looks like a jungle.
The fernhouse is Brian's invention, a greenhouse of PVC pipe and plastic built on one of our raised beds. It cost $125, and he is very proud of that. He'd like every fern in Suffolk to make it to spring. He gave it a painted wood door frame, which I appreciated more than I let on, because even a temporary house ought to have a proper front door.
Even a temporary house ought to have a proper front door.
These ferns have been with us for at least three winters, and some of them moved here with us. I've grown fond of them the way you grow fond of anything you've looked after for a while. Keeping something going year after year is a small, steady kind of care, and a fern is a forgiving place to practice it.
Brian practiced law before he took up restoration work, and he likes to know exactly why a thing works. The fernhouse has two layers of plastic, a heavier sheet outside and a lighter one inside, and the air between them holds the warmth. Bright winter days can turn it too warm, so he put an exhaust fan on the back wall with a thermostat, and it looks after itself.
A fern is a forgiving place to practice.
In February they come back up the walk and into the entry hall, and the whole house exhales.
This is the first Brian Builds. Between our house and The Inn at Bank and Grace across the street, Brian always has a project underway, and we'll share his plans as he goes. You can follow along at @theinnatbankandgrace.
Get Brian's plan
Brian wanted to share it. He's on a mission to save all the ferns. It has both drawings with the measurements and the shopping list.
If your ferns are still on the porch, bring them in tonight. And next fall, think twice before you set them out on the curb.
Love,
Kristy
Truitt House Living™
