More things that I...

...never planted, but really enjoy. Some things in my gardens, and in the wood, meadow and hedgerows that I look forward are things that I have discovered. Things like wildflowers, mosses, mushrooms and lichens. All things that I delight in "discovering" each year, tiny things that amaze and amuse me. On a stump in the hedgerow, along the road, in front of our property, one thing that I wait for each year, is the return of a remarkable "village" of fuzzy foots. Fuzzy foot is the common name of Xeromphalina campanella mushroom. Another mushroom, an extremely tiny one (1/4" to 5/8"), that I enjoy "finding", is Splash Cup, Cyathus striatus. I put finding and discovering in quotes, because I basicly know where they are but, not exactly when they will be at peak. The Splash Cups look like tiny birds nest with eggs, but the "eggs" are actually spores. They grow on shredded cedar mulch that I put in the gardens to help control weeds. In the Ornamental Grass Garden I also mulch with shredded cedar and more "jewels" grow there, they are Beaked Earthstars, Geastrum pectinatum. Tomorrow some of the amazing mosses that adorn the wood and gardens.