Tangled Branches: Cultivated

happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Fungi, Flowers, Firmament

The tomato tide has turned, and I can get back to exploring the woods and fields.

Starting with the last rain (August 26), mushrooms began popping up everywhere. Ordinary-looking mushrooms, mushrooms that look like molded plastic foam, inverted mushrooms, and these storybook mushrooms. I haven't the faintest idea what any of these might be, and I don't intend to taste any of them, but I noticed that some of them had been gnawed on. And there was a kind of dried-porcini truffle-y odor about, but I don't know where it was coming from.

The woods' edge has surprised me with some very pretty wildflowers lately. This one is a beauty. Truly. It's called Virginia Meadow Beauty, and the entire plant is attractive. The opposite leaves with prominent veins form a very regular pattern; the fruit capsule is an interesting urn shape, and the bright yellow stamens/anthers are very striking against the soft magenta-pink petals. In another spot, grows her cousin - the Maryland Meadow Beauty. Not quite as pretty, perhaps, because the flowers are much lighter in color. Maryland seems more compact and bushier than Virginia, but that may be because my spouse weed-whacked Maryland earlier this year.

Then there's this thing. I know it's an Aureolaria (formerly Gerardia?), but I'm having a hard time getting the species. It's apparently quite tasty, because most of the leaves have been chewed off one of them, and also some of the flower stalks. I haven't gotten a really good picture of it yet, either, but this is an open flower that's fallen to the ground. This genus is said to be parasitic on the roots of white oak trees, but I'm wondering if it's more of a symbiotic relationship than parasitic. Need to do some reading about this.

A couple more woods' edge plants now in bloom are the very tiny Curtis' Milkwort and a Lobelia which may or may not be L. siphilitica. The inflorescence doesn't look as dense to me as the pictures I've seen of L. siphilitica, and some of these are very tall (close to 5 ft. where they're growing up through some small sweet gum trees). So I don't know yet, but I'll spend some time with the field guides and try to get a positive ID.

Up in the field, there are bright yellow billows of a Bidens, either aristosa or coronata, or maybe both. These were aflutter with butterflies yesterday, and they have the same honey fragrance that I've noticed in my 'Fireworks' goldenrod. There are patches of Eupatorium coelestinum or Blue Mist Flower, and nature provided a pretty combination with magenta legume that I've not identified.

Those are the wildflower highlights. Some of the tree leaves are starting to turn, but I don't want to talk about it yet.

We enjoyed our evening beverage last night by starlight. The Summer Triangle and Milky Way were high overhead, and I saw 3 shooting stars in about 20 minutes.