Look what I found lurking down the end of the garden. Well it’s up the end of the garden really as my garden slopes up from the house.
I have had mushrooms in the garden before, in fact every year at this time there are mushrooms in the front lawn and I think they originate from the roots of the old conifer which weren’t taken out with the tree and are rotting under the lawn. Whenever I dig in the front garden borders I come across bit of root with white stuff on it which I am assuming is the mycelium from which the mushrooms derive.
These mushrooms are growing under a rhododendron and bamboo in the Woodland Border in the back garden. This is just below my compost bins and I have to admit that when I empty the bins any woody stuff that hasn’t rotted down gets thrown around the roots of the bamboo and other plants as a thick mulch. I suspect the same thing is happening as in the front garden and there are various mycelium lurking amongst this woody mess and the result is these rather wonderful mushrooms.
I did contort myself under the rhododendron to take a photograph of this mushroom’s gills which looked great at the time but it is actually very out of focus and I don’t think my chiropractor would be very pleased to know I had been doing this after all her hard work yesterday. We won’t mention the plant moving either!
I love gardening which is a form of controlling nature but I also get a real thrill when I come across something like these mushrooms unexpectedly. I don’t think I am going to risk finding out if they are edible or not. I wouldn’t know where to start with the identification and the way things have been going round here lately, I would probably get it wrong! So I will just admire them hiding in the shrubs.