Brief frost, xmas fern Below-freezing temperatures returned for the briefest of moments overnight, and as I walked, I noticed the glint of ice crystals on various cast members of the leaf litter. This silvering is exactly what we should be experiencing at the very end of autumn, as ice crystals have done the work of separating out the hardy from the tender plants. The Christmas Fern, so named because it's evergreen and bears leaflets that resemble those "stockings ... held by the chimney with care," is one of the survivors: a plant endowed with the ability to keep ice from damaging cells by, in part, encouraging crystal growth in places where the silvering will do no harm. The strategy offers a treat for the eye and the lens, and I savored the photo op, knowing full well that it was exceedingly short-lived. The forecast calls for warmth, unnatural warmth—April, perhaps even May, in December.