Mushrooms (part 2)

Guess what? It rained again today, and although I haven't checked for any new mushrooms, I've got several more cool mushroom photos I've been saving from the last couple of years.

 
Of the dozens of different types of mushrooms and fungi I've seen, this is probably my favorite. It's fuzzy! More about this in a minute, but first a look at some other cool ones I've seen.

***

These are really very small. The straight edge you see at the top of the frame is the bottom of the board that forms one of my raised bamboo beds.

I like those! I also really like these little umbrella-looking mushrooms -- they're so delicate:

They do not last very long -- by the end of the day they'll usually be gone (unless it stays cloudy and rainy all day).

One of my favorite techniques is to set my point-and-shoot camera on "macro" (for close-up shots) and get the camera as low as possible so you can see the mushrooms from underneath. I think it's a great point of view that you usually don't get to see.

I don't think this next one is considered a mushroom, but some other type of fungus:

It's really rubbery and tough, and looks like some sort of sea life -- it would not be out of place on a coral reef somewhere.

And now, back to my favorite fuzzy fungus:

I saw these on a dead log in the back of my yard last May (2009).

The log was just covered in them, and it was quite impressive.

I think they rival even the furriest of plant leaves... something like lamb's ear. You're not going to see a lamb's ear in this color though!


They look really cool from below too:

Someday I hope to identify this fuzzy fungus as well as all of the other mushrooms and fungi I've seen around the garden.

I wonder how many latin botanical names I can memorize before other important unrelated-to-gardening memories get pushed out? (My blood type? Umm... I used to know that... Uh... hey, is that a Flammulina velutipes over there?)

Even if I don't become a student of mycology, I'll always be keeping an eye out for cool mushrooms that make an appearance in my garden.