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| Can you find the ant on the mushroom? |
After our heavy rains, I went looking for mushrooms. They sprout up at different times of the year in Northern California, even in our dry, hot summers. But I expected to see more of them in February.
As I walked along a path, I thought I would be surprised by new crops blooming everywhere. Instead I found random tennis balls from the nearby courts forgotten under the trees. I discovered tennis balls are as hard to photograph as mushrooms are. The light confuses my iPhone in much the same as round mushrooms do.
I also found the last of the prickly Liquid Amder seed pods blown into bunches on the edges of the path. We used to collect them and spray them gold or silver for holiday ornaments. The birds love the seeds inside the pods, but all the seeds were gone by now.
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| Liquid Amber tree seed pods |
I didn't find many mushrooms on my walk until I came back to our backyard. We have a dead alder stump in the middle of the yard. The top part of one of our redwoods broke off, thundered down to the ground and whacked the alder so hard that it too eventually died. A tree sculptor carved bear heads in the trunk once the rest of the tree was cut down. Last summer clusters of mushrooms covered the roots of the tree. Now fungi have started crawling up the sides like fairy staircases and into the carved spaces on the bear's head and paws.
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| Fairy staircases or Yellowstone-like pools? |
The fungi are beautiful and remind me of the monarchs that usually swarm the trees along the Monterey coastline. I thought about those beautiful butterflies whose population in the last year declined by 86% -- a precipitous drop. Scientists offer climate change, habitat destruction, and pesticides (Round-up is particulary harmful) as reasons for the loss.
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| These mushrooms are also known as Turkey Tail Mushrooms |
Our alder tree is going through a natural process of decay. We can't do much except watch it crumble, little by little. We humans, though, have accelerated the loss of the monarchs on the West Coast. They live here all year round and the smoke from last year's fires was harmful. Big environmental issues like this seem to be so enormous that it's easy to feel helpless. I've learned that the last couple of years of political upheaval provides a blueprint for action. Getting together with others to do even small things can result in amazing achievements. If you can find space in your garden for some local, nectar-rich plants, join me and plant them. You might save a butterfly!
The Xerces Society has produced a series of plant guides to help all of us to find plants that will do well in our locations. Check them out!
https://xerces.org/monarch-nectar-plant-guides/
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/western-u-s-monarch-butterfly-population-declined-sharply-in-2018
From Postcards in the Air Facebook Page: SE: Thanks for another great blog & giving info about how we can help the monarchs!
ReplyDeleteCarrie Classon Oh! I am jealous you have so many mushrooms. Do you eat any of them?
Jane B: Our yard was filled with Monarchs when I was a child - now I never see any. Incredibly sad
To SE: you are welcome. Thanks for continuing to read my blog.
ReplyDeleteTo Carrie: No I don't eat wild mushrooms. I'm no expert and there are poisonous ones that look just like eatables around our area.
To Jane B: Let's plant some seeds and maybe we can bring them back!
Such variety in the mushroom family! Thanks for posting the xerces link; I'd love some more nectar-rich plants (and butterflies) in my yard.
ReplyDeleteI love to find new mushrooms, but now I need a class to tell the difference between poisonous and non-poisonous! Thanks for reading my post this week. And happy planting for the butterflies!
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