I guess I've spoiled the surprise with the title of this post, haven't I?![]()
Oh well, since you know where we're headed, I guess I'll take you on a slight detour getting there. This is the area I planted up during our COVID spring of 2020—after removing a little over 20 square feet of lawn. It's filled in nicely, even while having to deal with with a late February freeze—complete with snow and ice, after an extremely mild winter where nothing much was dormant—and come June, three days of the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Portland.
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There are pyrrosia, of course.
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And several Asplenium trichomanes and Dryopteris sieboldii...
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Or as I recently read them called, palm fern.
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Blechnum penna-marina/ aka Austroblechnum penna-marina makes an appearance.
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An unlabeled aspidistra with a low-hanging stem of Callistemon 'Woodlander's Hardy Red' adds a bit of drama.
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More pyrrosia...
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And now we're back to the area we need to look closer at. Do you see it?
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Hint, just to the right of the cryptanthus I planted for no reason other than "why not?" (no, it's not winter hardy).
Interesting how it kind of blends with the odd color of the cryptanthus, don't you think?
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As I bent to look more closely at it...
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I saw another...
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And another...
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And more! These are all growing on a mossy branch I brought home from somewhere, I have no memory of where exactly but I know there was no sign of this fungus on it back then. I used the branch to build up the soil around a chunk of pyrrosia, since I learned they like to grow down a slight incline I figure why not make them happy?
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In the process I'veended up with a bunch of fun fungus, I look forward to watching them grow.![]()
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