fungus — 2012 — The 21st Century Matriarch

We took advantage of a cool, cloudy morning recently to revisit Catoctin Mountain Park near Thurmont, Maryland. It’s a forested area with hiking trails and winding roads. For us - it’s a place to celebrate all the times we’ve been there before (over the past 20+ years) and the beauty of the place even in August: (from the top down in the collage below) Catoctin geology, tiny mushrooms in moss, sunflowers at the visitors center, Cunningham Falls - not much water but the scour holes to the right of the water are indicators of how much there is at other times of the years, and a blue chicory flower.

This time of year the fungus steal the show from wildflowers. The slide show below captures some of my favorites. There are a lot of tree falls and forest mulch at Catoctin that provide lots substrate for these decomposers.

And last but not least - there were a few colorful leaves….reminding us that fall is just around the corner.

It was cool but sunny at Brookside Gardens and Nature Center in Montgomery County Maryland today. The nature center held a Maple Sugar Festival...complete with tasting of the clear sap from trees as well as ices made with the finished maple syrup. The contrast in sweetness between the sap and the syrup is pretty dramatic. The day should have been good for sap dripping into the buckets on the trees (cold nights, warmer days) but none were dripping while we were there. The event was well attended; we were fortunate to find a close in space in the parking lot for the Gardens visitor center.

There are the beginning of spring in the garden with some fruit trees blooming...and the very early blooming bulbs (snowdrops and crocus). Lenten roses are blooming too. Daffodils are starting but now near their peak. The tulips have barely sprouted. At this time of year the shelf fungus on fallen trees is particularly noticeable because there is no foliage to hide it.