Coprinus comatus - shaggy mane
I was very excited yesterday to find these beautiful mushrooms in the Bristlecone border.
Though I know nothing about mushrooms we are very lucky here at Denver Botanic Gardens to have access to the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi. I decided to take one of them down to our experts for identification – it turned out to be a Coprinus comatus or shaggy mane.
Apparently it is one of inky cap mushrooms,
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Claytonia perfoliata
Bulbs may be the most obvious plants in bloom right now, but if you look closely there are a few other surprises too. Two of my favorites are Claytonia perfoliata – Miner’s lettuce and Arctostaphylos patula – Green leaf manzanita
Claytonia perfoliata
The Miner’s lettuce is an annual from the western coastal regions of North America.
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Callirhoe involucrata - Winecups
When you are buying plants for your garden this spring, consider adding a few natives to your garden.
Native plants typically provide habitat and food for more wildlife than non-natives adding to biodiversity. In an urban environment where wild places are fast disappearing every little piece of native habitat helps.
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Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) leaves and fruit
Fruit and fruit shells of Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) - the shells (two split pieces behind the fruit) are not spiny like Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum).
Every time someone asks me “what are the shiny brown things?” that they got from the ground underneath the Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra), I wonder what they did as kids in the fall. I grew up in England where we had horse chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum), very similar trees but bigger and with spiny fruit casings instead of the smoother ones in the picture. The fruit inside look the same though.
We would collect hundreds of the fruit, stomping on the spiny shells to get to the fruit inside.
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Squirrel eating a buffalo gourd (Curcurbita foetidissima)
Everywhere you look in the gardens is a squirrel eating something, burying something to eat later, or fighting another squirrel over food. Much as they can be annoying to gardeners I have to admit they are kind of photogenic…
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Recently I have noticed people commenting on the lack of ritual and disconnection from the seasons leading to the year seeming the same all the way through. It makes me realize how lucky I am with the work I do. Gardening has its own peculiar rituals that mean we cannot help but be highly aware of the changing seasons.
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Echinopsis 'Romance' flower
The South-American natives, Echinopsis, are not the most attractive cacti. They are often slightly off color with yellow or brown patches instead of a healthy green, they do not have particularly interesting spines and yet I cannot help but always have a few around. So what is their appeal? Why when space is limited to I feel the need to keep them in the collection?
Dryland Mesa in bloom
Prickly pear cacti blooming in Dryland Mesa
Early mornings in the gardens are definitely peaceful and cool, however some gardens, like some people, are not at their best until well after lunchtime. The south end of Dryland Mesa is currently one of these gardens and the cacti flowers, which are at their peak right now, are definitely late risers, refusing to open until the sun is at its fullest.
Admittedly an early morning visit does have the reward of the intense chocolate aroma of the Berlandiera lyrata (chocolate flowers). The closed Eschscholzia californica (California poppies) have a certain charm too, it is fascinating to watch them open as the sun falls on them. By mid-afternoon though everyone has stretched and opened
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Posted in: At the Gardens, What's Blooming - Comments(3)