Cool Looking Fungi In the Garden-Aliens Perhaps? And the Empress..

After the long hot and dry periods of May and June, July through September have brought us some fairly decent rains in Tennessee. Along with the rains, and heat, came some fungi in the garden. The one pictured above was about one foot wide and about six inches tall. It was quite a big old thing. I found it growing  in complete shade alongside a newly planted redbud. The grass blade you see sticking out is actually growing in this fungi. I cannot identify this fungi but think it may be a type of cauliflower fungus. If anyone can positively identify it for me that would be great.

Here is a longer shot. I touched this and it was quite firm.

This particular mushroom made me think spaceships.

It was probably seven inches across and about four inches off from the ground. I mowed it down but it came right back....



One last thing that is more fun than fungi to most. The Empress of China evergreen dogwood has buds on it!  I don't know if these are flower buds for next year or if they are flower buds for this year. Only time will tell....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Butterflies and Mushrooms

By SKEETER
Look who has joined me in my Georgia Gardens! On the new yellow Butterfly Bush no doubt.
I spotted 4 different Monarch Butterflies fluttering away at the Butterfly Bushes on Sunday.
On Monday, I spotted 3 of them. I don't know if these are the same flutterbugs or not. I am enjoying observing the beauties while I play in the garden on these glorious days of recent.
A bit of rain has fallen on our once drought stricken summer gardens. Thus the popping of odd mushrooms. This clump is in the Rock Garden nestled amongst the creeping Ivy and Perwinkle.
From this viewpoint, they look as those they are a water feature of bronze. I can see water trickling down from the various levels by using my imagination. Oh how I wish I knew if they were safe to eat or not. We have so many in the yard now that we could make many meals from the treats. But I will refrain for fear of poisoning myself. I will just enjoy looking at the BUTTERFLIES AND MUSHROOMS, In the Garden...
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Brains

By SKEETER
I went out into the yard to clean a paint brush and look what I found in my Georgia Garden. I thought it looked just like a brain! What a strange mushroom.
I am happy to say we have a new toilet in the bathroom! Last night Sheba was checking out the new toy in the house. She was mesmerized with the big white thing. The Saint and I got a chuckle out of her silly antics. Baseboards coming today.
Here she helps daddy caulk the tub. Yes, we are getting closer to being ready for company to arrive on Thursday. Today I plan to get out into the gardens and pull weeds like a mad woman. All I have to do is turn my back for a bit and they seem to take over. I wonder if I will find more BRAINS, In the Garden...
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Raining Mushrooms

By Skeeter

We've been receiving a bit of rain here in my Georgia Garden. Lucky for us, we have not gotten the horrible rain falls that our neighbors to the West, Atlanta received a few weeks ago!
A visitor comes calling to my Gardens with such rain falls.
Yep, those pesky Mushrooms!
I say pesky, because they pop up all over the place and we cannot eat them!
The Saint and I love eating mushrooms but as we all know, if you eat the wrong mushroom, well, you could die from them! I do see the beauty in the mushroom though.
Even though kind of neat looking, I consider the mushrooms in my yard nothing more then a pest as if a weed to pull.
I pluck them from the earth and let them die a peaceful death on the ground.

Look at how pretty these three clumps of mushrooms look in the Shade Garden! They look as though I planted them by the Black Elephant Ear and Hosta don't they?

Look how large they were compared to my hand! They just popped up over night! Crazy I tell ya and worse then any weed I know. What do you all do when you find mushrooms in your garden?

Wow, it sure has been RAINING MUSHROOMS, In the Garden...

S'hrooms

Tina recently told you about the Fungus in her gardens. With lots of rainfall here in Georgia from Tropical Storm Fay, we now have fungus among us! Our fungus is Argaricus Bisporus simply known as, Mushrooms.
Mushrooms or Toadstools have stems, caps and gills underneath and seem to pop up over night! I know they pop up over night in our yard. Look at all the S'hrooms I found in the yard this morning!
Many different types of which I have no idea how to identify. Mushrooms are wonderful to eat but not the ones we find in our yard.

Some mushrooms can kill a human if consumed. So it is best to leave the harvesting for the experts.
I have seen the deer and squirrels eat some of the mushrooms that pop up in our yard. I wonder why this one was flipped over? Maybe a squirrel was hunting for one to eat and decided this s'hroom was not the one! I found a large grouping of the tiny mushrooms popping up and standing tall as if a group of soldiers standing in formation. These were popping out of the seed hulls from the birdseed we clean up from under the feeders. We just pitch the hulls over the fence and they break down in time.
The tiny S'hrooms seem to thrive in the Black Oil Sunflower hulls. Too bad I cannot eat them as I love mushrooms!

Here you see the genus, Trichaptum, a Polypores, or type of mushroom without a stem which grows on tree trunks or stumps. I find these all over the woods on tree trunks.

I have no idea what you call this fungus other then pretty! I always see something from within with my eyes and in this fungus, I see Coral of the ocean floor.
There were big clumps of this fungus growing in the pine straw of the natural area of the yard.

Some people do not like mushrooms popping up in their yard over night. But I find S'HROOMS fascinating and beautiful with their shapes, colors and texture, In the Garden...