the bark tree

Fungus among us

Noticed this nice red fungus on the ugly elm stump. Hopefully this is an indicator that it's slowly breaking down. Good riddance!

Mutual inspiration

One of my goals as a gardener is to encourage others to try gardening and/or growing plants themselves. I've experienced endless delight from growing plants – even just looking at them – and enjoy sharing these pleasures with others.

When we lived together many years ago, my dear friend, Karl, took care of my plants, which filled our house, while I was away for two months on a trip. He is now an accomplished grower of succulents himself and claims that the time he spent caring for my plants gave him the motivation to try some of his own.

Since then, Karl has also learned a great deal about mushrooms, a subject with which I am fascinated, but have only dabbled. He sent me these beautiful photos and I think he should start his own blog about his findings. So now he's inspiring me to learn more and seek out these fungal wonders in my city neighborhood.