In an otherwise nicely maintained Japanese Garden (at Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park), this black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) stands out, and not in a good way:
Why would someone prune a tree in this manner? Answer and more photos on Monday!</d
Category: Friday puzzle
Fungal fun continues!
The comments on Friday’s puzzle have certainly been imaginative! (Tribbles indeed!) But this weekend nature cooperated to give me some more information.
My little fungus family expanded over the weekend. As this photo shows, we definitely have a mushroom-type fungus:
Looking at a young member, you can see what look like stalked spores emerging from the gills:
And the edges of the mushroom curl upwards as the spore mass grows
until we end up with the black furry ball shown on Friday:
So the discussion continues: What the heck is this? Is it one species, or is there another species that’s emerging from the gills of the first?
Friday fungal fun
The answer to today’s puzzle will depend on YOU! I have no idea what this is. (I’m not a mycologist. And did you know that fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants?)
Anyway. I found this on our wood chip mulch today. We always get interesting fungal fruiting bodies on wood chips – one year we even got morels. But I’ve never seen this type before.
If you can’t tell, these are round and furry. They really remind me of a mold.
Mystery tongue identified
A few brave souls dared to take on Friday’s puzzle. Here’s a more revealing photo; the "tongue" is actually the top of a pitcher plant:
Kudos to Hap for correctly identifying the genus (Sarracenia) of this carnivorous plant. This particular one is S. purpurea, which is distinctive in that it has dark red, open pitchers rather than hooded ones. You can easily see the downward slanting hairs in the throat of the pitchers. These hairs, as Diana pointed out, keep trapped insects from climbing back out of the pitcher.
This pitcher plant is part of my nifty bog garden that we put together this year. If any of them get big enough, I’ll have to try Hap’s unorthodox method of slug disposal.
Cat tongue?
Well, maybe it’s not a cat tongue (no way my cats would put up with this), but what is it? Name both the plant and the function of this tissue for full credit!
Answer and more photos on Monday – have a great weekend!
Turf trickery
Now I feel a little guilty. You tried to answer Friday’s puzzle so seriously, and I was taking liberties with photography:
I think this is the coolest garden stairway I’ve seen yet. The buffalgrass tolerates moderate foot traffic, and it lends a fluid look to the otherwise hard edges of the steps. And you can’t tell from looking, but it both felt and sounded silky. Best of all, it doesn’t require mowing. (This is the Rolston/Cohn garden, part of the garden tour put on by the GWA in Dallas last week.)
Dallas mystery turf
During my trip to Dallas last week, I saw several low-water lawns, including this one using buffalograss (Bouteloua dactyloides):
The question is – why does have this wave structure?
Another revealing picture and answer on Monday!
A freakin’ violet
Friday’s puzzle scared you off! Matt was correct – this is an African violet (Saintpaulia spp.). But unlike other African violets, this one never opens its flower buds (Sandy nailed it!). Originally cultivated in Germany, these plants are marketed in the US by Optimara Violets. That’s all I can tell you about this quirky little cultivar.
Friday puzzle – from Dallas!
I’m in Dallas for the next 4 days attending the GWA (Garden Writers Association) annual conference. (I get to give a talk on Horticultural CSI on Sunday!) Tonight we had a slew of vendors to explore, and among the offerings I found this plant:
So today’s question – what is this plant? And what makes it so unusual? The first question might be easy – the second one, not so much.
Answer and more info on Monday!
Freaky flower flummoxer
Finally, I’ve given a quiz that’s fooled everyone!
Believe it or not, this is a foxglove flower mutation:
Often, species with irregular flower will have flower which revert to a more primitive form. In the case of foxglove, the bilaterally symmetrical flower reverts to the ancestral radial form – a phenomenon called peloria. Apparently foxglove floral variations are pretty common and have been reported in the literature for many decades.