Query, from commentor Scuffletuffle:
Looking to id this lovely fungus my buddy found on the bike trail in Amherst MA.
Any ideas from the BJ hive mind?
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And a round of restfulness from Delphinium:
There is a pretty little park in my neighborhood that always has a lovely array of flowers in the summer and fall. Whenever my own gardens are looking less than stellar, it is nice to be able to walk around here and enjoy the scenery.
In addition to various flower beds, the park also has a pond that becomes a temporary stop for ducks and other waterfowl (there was even a great blue heron that visited here last year).
During the summer months, the park hosts various concerts and an art show. Overall a very nice spot to hang out.
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What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Baud
There’s a fungus among us.
satby
Felt restful just looking at the park pictures! Lovely!
As to the fungus, I will defer to Ozark, because I think he knows that subject better. My guess would be hen-of-the-woods, but I wouldn’t be positive enough to eat it.
eclare
What a lovely little park! Taken-care-of public spaces add so much.
JPL
What a lovely spot to visit.
Lapassionara
Thanks for posting these lovely photos. My garden is a weedy mess. The rainy weather yesterday kept me from my chores, but I’ll be back at work this morning.
sab
What a lovely fungus/fungi. We just have the occasional mushroom/ toadstool.
satby
@Lapassionara: I’m slowly getting the upper hand on the weeds, with the help of my lawn guy. But just trying to water the shrubs and flower beds the other evening left me covered in mosquito bites. This is the time of year I really start longing for the first frost. Light enough to kill the bugs but not the hardier flowers and shrubs.
HeartlandLiberal
I uploaded the image to images.google.com, and the Google told me the following:
Hen-of-the-wood
Fungus
Grifola frondosa is a polypore mushroom that grows at the base of trees, particularly old growth oaks or maples. It is typically found in late summer to early autumn. It is native to China, Europe, and North America.
sab
Our new neighbors are annoyed with us because we haven’t been keeping the yard up, what with husband’s back surgery.
We lent our electric lawnmower to stepson two weeks ago, and he hasn’t been able to return it yet, so yard is very shaggy. But I bought a new electric lawnmower yesterday, and it is self-propelled, and has a second battery!
So we are glad to abandon the old mower. Neighbor was out in the yard when husband hobbled out with his walker to explain to me how to work the new mower. Maybe they will cut us some slack now.
Baby sister dropped by when we were doing husband’s IV antibiotic drip, and her eyes bugged out of her head when we went through all the procedures. So hopefully she will tell the other relatives visiting in town to back off. We are overwhelmed with tiny important details.
ETA Our five cats are extremely disappointed in my neglect of the six litter boxes. A neglected cat is a vindictive cat. More housecleaning issues. I tell them “at least you are fed on time.” They don’t care. Trust is trust and I fucked up.
raven
With my bride having a broken foot and my hobbled ass the garden and yard are hurting. I’ve found that I can mow one half (I’m still doing lawn the widow lady next door) a day but it’s so damn wet I can’t get through it for a couple of days.
delphinium
What a cool looking fungus!
sab
The electric lawnmower is ferocious as long as the battery lasts. It never wimps out like the gas driven one ( “this grass is too high and thick! I think I will conveniently faint.!”)
On the other hand, it did try to climb a phone pole when I forgot to release the self-propelling mechanism .
Baud
@sab:
It’s a little early to be mowing, no?
ETA: Although the electric must be much quieter.
sab
@Baud: Much quieter.
Mowed yesterday. Today is supposed to rain all day so no mowing. Weeding instead.
ETA Lotsa leftovers so no cooking! Yay!
delphinium
@eclare: It really is! It is very small but they pack a lot of flowers and shrubs into it. And the ducks are a nice added bonus.
Princess
@Baud: oh I think this is the perfect time of day to mow when you’re dealing with back surgery and your neighbours are complaining the grass is too high.
sab
@Princess: Come sit next to me.
ETA Husband rolled over last night and woke himself up by his pain scream. Also woke up me, the dog and all five cats.
delphinium
@sab: Hope your husband is at least making good progress with is back and you are able to take care of yourself as well!
Also, if your neighbors were so annoyed, then maybe they could have offered to cut the grass for you? Or see if they could help out in other ways?
sab
@delphinium: Thanks. Better every day.
The neighbors aren’t really being obnoxious. Just new to the neighborhood. Raised eyebrows and all is the extent of their complaints. And the offer to weed whack. I said okay but don’t whack any poison ivy, and he took that as a don’t weed whack. We only have two little poison ivy plants I haven’t pulled yet. Waiting for rain. He could pull them, but modern yout don’t weed.
sab
@delphinium: That little garden is lovely. When I try to pack them in they just choke each other.
Baud
@sab:
You shouldn’t have told them another poison ivy and asked them to pull it with their bare hands.
sab
@Baud: Didn’t want them to weed whack it. I’m very sensitive to poison ivy, and those little chopped bits still make me break out years later.
OzarkHillbilly
That park is a nice little refuge from the urban hubbub.
As to the fungus, I am not a mushroom expert and can’t really say. Not enough info in that pic. There are a number that grow in that fashion. If I was forced to make a guess, I would say not hen of the woods because it’s not at all meaty.
delphinium
@raven: Hope your bride is doing okay and it won’t be too much longer before her foot is healed. Had a lot of rain a few weeks ago so couldn’t cut the grass and then it was almost too high to mow. That is so kind of you to mow your neighbor’s grass!
I’m in Central NY, so snow is a big thing in the winter. There are a couple guys with heavy duty snowblowers who go around and clear the sidewalks and some driveways on the street. So nice when neighbors help each other out.
OzarkHillbilly
@Princess: As I always say, “FUCK the neighbors.” especially when they are within earshot.
germy shoemangler
sab
@raven: About twenty five years ago our rescue dog managed to sprain my ankle, The first six weeks I thought I would limp for the rest of my life. Two years later I couldn’t remember which ankle. Hope your wife has a similar path to healing.
delphinium
Well autumn is definitely on its way-my neighbors across the street have already put out their Halloween decorations on the front lawn.
sab
@OzarkHillbilly: Our houses are fifteen feet apart. Helps to get along.
Spanky
@OzarkHillbilly: Yeah,really. Fuck the neighbors.
My neighbor seems to have invited all his mega RV friends for the weekend, as there are a few parked on his acre. Generators have been running non-stop since Thursday.
It better be only for the weekend.
Percysowner
@sab: Lucky you. About 10 years ago, I twisted my ankle walking my 11 lb. dog. After weeks of X-Rays and special walking boots, the podiatrist discovered that I had torn the heck out of my ligaments and I had to have surgery. It fixed me up great.
Now, I’ve pinched a nerve and am going through physical therapy. It is taking forever to fully heal. Getting old is not for the faint of heart.
Spanky
@delphinium: Hey, why not? There are aisles of Halloween candy at the supermarket.
This too shall pass. It has become tradition for the shopping centers here to put up the Christmas decorations on Halloween day.
eclare
@delphinium: Wow! Although there is a chill in the air here in Memphis, the high today is only 85. Yay!
eclare
@Spanky: That is awful.
Peter
It’s not a maitake/grifola frondosa. You could try comparing it to a cauliflower mushroom, Sparassis spp. When asking for mushroom IDs, you’ll generally get more accurate info if you provide multiple photos (cross section, stipe/gills if applicable) and a description of where it was found: growing from the ground near a particular tree or types of tree, or out of a stump, and what county/state. That’s SOP on the various groups and forums, which I highly recommend for budding mycophiles.
Mai Naem mobile
@HeartlandLiberal: i googled the image and came up with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparassis_spathulata. Sparassis Spathulata which it says is south and east of the Great Lakes. There is a Sparassis Americana which looks similar to sparassis spathulatha. There’s also sparassis crispa which looks more like coral.
Gin & Tonic
I’m with OH, that is too delicate looking a fungus to be hen of the woods. Given the extreme drought conditions here in New England, I’m surprised to see any fungi.
Last year we had a very wet fall and it was a banner year. Between us and our kids we harvested probably 40 lb of the maitake (hen of the woods.) They are almost invariably found at the base – literally at the base – of mature oaks. I’d need some more photos and info on this one.
Bill Hicks
The fungus might be Sparissis spathulata (Cauliflower mushroom). The one in the picture is probably too old to eat.
sab
@Percysowner: Yikes. I keep warning our forty year old stepkids that injuries in your forties and upwards aren’t like injuries in your twenties and teens.
Scuffletuffle
Thank you all for the suggested ids on the fungus. I will try to take more notice of the surroundings in future. This one surprised my companion and me, we had never seen anything like it.
Scuffletuffle
@sab: Your situation sounds absolutely overwhelming! I wish I was nearby so I could offer help.
sab
@Scuffletuffle: Difficult but not overwhelming. We will get through this.
I have a co-worker much younger than me whose husband had to sell his thriving business because he has MS. Last year he was in a wheelchair. This year he can barely talk.
My company is reeling because she was such a workhorse. But her family needs her 100% now. And she is beyond overwhelmed. So I am upset now, but very much okay on the spectrum of what could happen.
frosty
@sab: I made the same purchase and got a self-propelled electric for $100 off from Ace Hardware because it was the floor demo for a discontinued model. Came with two batteries, which I thought was overkill for my postage stamp yard, but I needed them both the first time I used it.
I love it! I don’t have to wear hearing protectors any more.
OzarkHillbilly
@sab: Back when I still lived in the city, I always found that the best way to get along with my neighbors was to mind my own business. Too many of them were drunks and drug addicts with violent tendencies.
Now that I live in the hills and hollers, I can’t even see their houses.
Jeffery
My next door neighbor has a hedge he has clipped into a step shape going up the step to his porch yesterday. It got clipped back last year majorly by his son to bring the step shape back. Last year and this spring it filled in. It needed to be clipped again. He had cheap electric hedge shears to do the job. They weren’t doing a great job. Things came to a holt when he discovered a paper hornets nest in the shrub. This morning he was back out at the hedge having sprayed the nest. I had just bought new hand shears. Seeing him struggle with the electric shears I got them and gave them to him to use. The shears are razor sharp. He was going to use them tomorrow until he tried the shears. He did stop but he really didn’t want to. The shears are from a line of gardening tools by Niwaki. I had never heard of the company. It’s Japanese. A family business. The tools aren’t cheap but the ease they make using them on this kind of job makes them worth it. My first usage was on trimming ivy. It took about a quart of the time I spent in the past doing the job. I found them by asking Google what tools Monty Don from the BBC’s Gardeners’ World used. This is the site I found to buy them.
https://www.niwaki.com
It is based in England. It’s like gardener’s porn to look at these tools. Now I have the shear, clippers and loppers. Also bought a whetstone, crean mate and oil to maintain them. I wish I had know about this company a decade or more ago.
sab
@sab: Damn. Boss just texted that her husband has died. This is so sad.
Another Scott
@OzarkHillbilly: Google Lens points me to Sparassis spathulata. Looks very similar, but who knows.
An old boss was really into mushrooms. Would make spore prints and everything, and tell stories about people making deadly mistakes in identification…
A friend of his would bring giant puffballs and similar huge things and put them on his desk to find on Monday mornings. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
@Scuffletuffle: My co-worker with husband with MS just lost him. This is so sad. She is wonderful and he was worthy of her love.
This is so sad.
All good marriages end in death, but they were rather young. My stepdaughter got into foster care from her mother’s MS. That’s why my husband could adopt her.
This is so sad. I am stunned.
OzarkHillbilly
@Another Scott: I have a friend who joined the local mycological society chapter. Really big into mushrooms. I’ve thought about joining, maybe someday I will.
Miss Bianca
@sab: Oh, my dear, you are having a bad time of it lately, aren’t you? Oh, Lord, vindictive cats on top of everything else!
OzarkHillbilly
@sab: It’s tuff, especially when they are young.
ThresherK
Yes: If you follow the Norwottuck Rail Trail west from Amherst you can probably find ice cream every 2-3 miles.
OzarkHillbilly
@ThresherK: That is a splendid idea!
ThresherK
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, I speak from experience, and telling myself that two stops for (medium) ice cream in 30 miles of pedaling isn’t a bad thing once in a while.
J R in WV
We have a neighbor who gathers mushrooms around the holler, but he’s a professional biologist with a particular interest in fungi. We get ‘shrooms from him from time to time, saute them into various dishes you would use ‘shrooms in. Dellish to be sure.
We grew shiitakis in oak logs off and on, but they rot away after a few seasons. You order spawn from a dealer, which grows on hundreds of little dowels, which you place into the log in snug holes you drill. Sometimes you can paint the exterior with hot wax, if you have time and inclination, I forget the purpose of that step.
Later on, you get scads of delicious shiitaki mushrooms from each log. 6 or 8 logs will keep you supplied for years. The logs have to be fresh living oak, tho.
MagdaInBlack
@sab: When my husband died at 40, that’s one of the things I told myself: this is something everyone goes through eventually. Didn’t suck any less, but to me, it was oddly comforting. (not that I would ever say it to anyone going thru it)
Even tho she doesn’t know me, I’m thinking of her.
Kristine
@Jeffery: ::saves website::
joel hanes
@OzarkHillbilly:
I occasionally see this sign in California mercados :
De 100 problemas tienes
10 por pendejo
90 por metiche
which I think roughly translates:
of the 100 problems you have, 10 are because you were stupid, and 90 are because you didn’t mind your own business