They look perfectly fine to me.

Karen

Yeay! The brown bits feel a little dry so I was afraid I dried them out or something. Since none of the varieties were named "Extra Crispy" or "Fried Fern" I thought I'd check

thanks for the reassurance!

those unfurling leaves are croziers - look fine....but, I am having to move seedlings such as delphiniums out of my unheated greenhouse during daylight hours as it is getting hot, hot, hot in there.

It's always like this - 2 months of trays in and out, day and night - dunno why I bother sometimes (especially when the blind elderly collie lies all over the seed trays on the floor).

They look completely normal

Hi David,
We call those "fiddle heads" and they are newly emerging fern fronds. Once established, generally fern prefer to be a little on the dry side, but not dried out.

I'm curious, when you placed the order, did it indicate if this "variety bag" of fern are perennial in your growing zone? You can indicate your growing zone with your name and that would be helpful when you post :-)

I've added a photo of my Glade Fern fiddle heads which are a little different. They are planted in my wild flower garden. Your fern may be another variety such as Holly Fern. I'm only suggesting it because Holly fern are readily available and have woodier (crispier) fiddle heads and frond stems.

Deb

Hi Deb

Thanks for the response and picture! Would you believe the order confirmation and packing slip don't mention the different names. I know the bags they came in had the names on them but I threw them out without thinking to look at the packing slip to make sure they were listed there, too. I looked at information on a couple different ferns and those at least are hardy in my zone and listed as perennials.
I emailed them to see if they could tell me the different varieties so we'll see. I'd like to look into the different ones as I only have two of the five planted showing any fiddle heads (love that!!)

Thanks again!