If you want to take a picture and post it on the name that plant forum, perhaps someone can identify it for you.

Now I just want to know what your fern is! Do you have a picture you can post so we can get some help to id it?

Sugarhill, if you want n Ostrich fern i think i have a spare one. Also have a couple of Japanese painted ferns if you can find a home for them. Let me know and i'll take them to the trade if you are going.

Barbara, I'll take you up on your offer of an ostrich fern. I'd love to try one just to find out what they are. I'll take the JP ferns too if you want to get rid of them. I thought I had killed mine last year, but it's back.
As far as a picture of my nameless fern, I don't have a digital camera. So - each frond is on a tall stalk. The stalk comes up out of the ground for anywhere from 18 to 30 inches tall, then the frond sits on top of the stalk. The stalks are vertical, the fronds horizontal. They are a pale green and prolific. Where you have one stalk, you will have 15 or so by the end of summer. They make unstoppable colonies and are delicate and beautiful nodding in a breeze. Can't find a picture on the internet because I don't know what name to search by. Anyone recognize it from this description.

A couple of possibilities: bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) and sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis).

sugarhill, that's fine, I'll bring them to the trade if you are going. Also, why don't you bring one of the fronds to the trade, maybe someone can identify if from that.

Maybe your fern is a Royal Fern? I grew both Ostrich and Royal ferns in my former garden and they seemed to try to outgrow one another. josh

Here is a link that might be useful: Royal Fern

I would bet they are a type of Thelypteris, perhaps 'Marianna Maiden'. Do they look like this?
{{gwi:812820}}

Yes, vroomp. That's it. Mine is Thelypteris kunthii. The common name when I looked it up was Southern wood fern. I think part of the problem I have with this is that I have seen more than one type of fern called Thelypteris kunthii, and definitely seen lots of ferns called Southern wood fern and Southern shield fern. I'm used to lots of different things having the same common names, but not the same botanical name. And doesn't it just look like it should be called ostrich fern? The frond as the ostrich tail, the stalk as the ostrich neck, and the head buried in the ground?
I just love this fern. I recommend it to anyone who has room to let a fern spread and spread and spread in a moist area.

sugarhill, do you have what's in the picture? Because that is not thelypteris kunthii. That is Thelypteris torresiana. Both ferns spread easily, but Thelypteris torresiana is the one with the stalk. It is not native to the US.

Here is a link to Southern Wood fern, thelypteris kunthii. A very nice native fern, it is often featured in Southern Living magazine pictures of gorgeous gardens. It is also a fern that can handle a bit more sun than others.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thelypteris kunthii

I believe esh is right and your fern is Thelypteris torresiana, common name is Mariana Maiden Fern. Kunthii has a straighter growing habit much like standard wood ferns and is actually called Southern Shield Fern. Torresiana always fan out from a tall stalk.

Well, I do have ostrich fern. And it has done beautifully!!!

Huh. Once I had the name Thelypteris from vroomp I looked it up in the catalog of the nursery I bought it from. They listed it as Thelypteris kunthii. But I think they have a typo, and I accept your classification as Thelypteris torresiana. That certainly clears up why I was seeing two different ferns with the same botanical name. Thanks guys.