R: Black Point Historic Gardens.
Today was another volunteer day at Black Point. Managed to squeeze in a tiny bit of Naturing!
I do this thing now where I do the rounds. I walk up the far staircase and look around at how all the plantings are doing. It’s my thing.
I’m seeing less mushrooms in GGPark lately, so I wasn’t expecting much here. But, some bright Yellow Fieldcaps were enjoying the sunny day. Velvet Foot and Mica Caps and Scurfy Twiglets and Layered Cups were also out. Not bad at all!
Checked in on my California Flannelbush planting, and all is well. There are even new blooms! I’m quite pleased.
After starting my weed work, I noticed some super teeny tiny Lupine. They are so cute. I’m so conditioned to instantly hating when I see the invasive weeds we’re pulling that I have the entire opposite feeling when I see what’s supposed to be there.
I also saw something that looked like halfway between fungi and slime mold. Newtome mushroom! Brittle Cinder! Photos of this thing are tough to capture. I imagine anyone seeing it would think, “Isn’t that dirt?” NOPE. BRITTLE CINDER.
As I was at the end of pulling the White-ramping Fumitory and Poison Hemlock, an Anna’s Hummingbird flew right in front of my face and landed on a branch of a Fuchsia planting about two feet from me. I was in shock how close it was. Before the shock wore off, it zipped behind me and was gone. That was the wildlife encounter I had today.
All in all, another day of pulling weeds. But, I got to see some mushrooms, including some so tiny growing out of the tiniest spit of a twig there ever was. So tiny my phone camera couldn’t capture it. Guess I have to bring my macro lens to volunteer days! I also saw super happy daffodils. And, I’m starting to get pretty excited about what this place will look like in the spring…
The Afternoon Naturalist 