Our backyard is no stranger to magic mushrooms, and this muggy summer makes for more fungus hospitality. These beauties appears practically overnight – I thought some escaped bit of rubbish blew into the yard before I went out for a closer look and discovered them.
The decaying stump of an old Japanese maple, and a bit of rain, formed the happy home environs for this mushroom clump. There is something magical about how quickly and fleetingly such a thing happens. It will likely shrink and wither beneath the direct rays of sunlight – should they happen to strike.
After some perfunctory research online, it looks like these may be a variety of oyster mushroom, but I’m not someone who will take his life into his hands by trying that theory out. Nor would I serve this to a dinner party for shits and giggles (no matter how tempting that might be).
The garden has its dangers, just like summer does.
