Monday, October 4, 2021

Turkey tails in my garden!

I guess I've spoiled the surprise with the title of this post, haven't I?

Oh well, since you know where we're headed, I guess I'll take you on a slight detour getting there. This is the area I planted up during our COVID spring of 2020—after removing a little over 20 square feet of lawn. It's filled in nicely, even while having to deal with with a late February freeze—complete with snow and ice, after an extremely mild winter where nothing much was dormant—and come June, three days of the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Portland. 

There are pyrrosia, of course.

And several Asplenium trichomanes and Dryopteris sieboldii...

Or as I recently read them called, palm fern.

Blechnum penna-marina/ aka Austroblechnum penna-marina makes an appearance.

An unlabeled aspidistra with a low-hanging stem of Callistemon 'Woodlander's Hardy Red' adds a bit of drama.

More pyrrosia...

And now we're back to the area we need to look closer at. Do you see it? 

Hint, just to the right of the cryptanthus I planted for no reason other than "why not?" (no, it's not winter hardy).

Interesting how it kind of blends with the odd color of the cryptanthus, don't you think?

As I bent to look more closely at it...

I saw another...

And another...

And more! These are all growing on a mossy branch I brought home from somewhere, I have no memory of where exactly but I know there was no sign of this fungus on it back then. I used the branch to build up the soil around a chunk of pyrrosia, since I  learned they like to grow down a slight incline I figure why not make them happy?

In the process I'veended up with a bunch of fun fungus, I look forward to watching them grow.

All material © 2009-2021 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

13 comments:

  1. The turkey tail is lovely but what really got me were those ferns.

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  2. The new area is looking great! As fungi go, turkey tails win the beauty prize. I've only discovered it once in my own garden, attached to a half-barrel in an advanced state of decay. Given how dry we are now, I expect there's little likelihood of seeing it again anytime soon.

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    1. I wonder how much moisture they really need? I remember watching a particularly lovely one grow on a neighbor's old stump. It was right up against the north side of their house and in a very dry area.

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  3. Your new area is looking fantastic, Loree. The turkey tails are a fun bonus!

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  4. That was one lucky branch you brought home with you; it must have carried the fungi spores to its new location in your garden. Considering how many 'sticks' I've collected over the year, I'm surprise no turkey tails grew yet...

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    1. I wish I knew where that branch came from!

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  5. I had no idea what the post title meant. I know so little about fungi. Yours are truly beautiful.

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    1. I have decided I need a couple of Marcia Donahue turkey tail sculptures to add to the mix...

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  6. Cool. I thought maybe a real neighborhood pet turkey somehow wandered by and left you some feathers.

    The whole area looks really good--so many different textures and leaf shapes and sizes, with a touch of white in the Aspidistra as the exclamation point on the sentence.

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    1. That could happen! And I like the idea of an exclamation point.

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  7. Such a wonderful space! I'll be working on a shady area soon!

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