R: Firerug Inkcap?
Today I was able to volunteer at Black Point. I missed my scheduled time two weeks ago for a couple reasons, so it’s been a whole four weeks since I was there! And, some new things have popped up since. Amazing!
I wasn’t able to arrive as early as I like, so I only had time to check in on my California Flannelbush plant. No flowers, but the new leaves are bigger and looking good! Also, that California Buckeye tree is so full of leaves now. And, curiously, no birds in it like usual. Hm!
Oh, and those tiny baby lupine are twice as big as before! Having this experience here, I can now easily see the enjoyment one gets out of growing things in their garden. Truly. I didn’t even plant those baby lupine. And, I’m freakin’ thrilled to see them growing. Helps that I’m pretty partial to lupine?
Our task today was weeding, of course. We removed grass and Dotted Knotweed and Poison Hemlock from the plantings done last year of Columbine, Ceanothus, and Lupine. They are all still so small after one year. Gotta keep them free of the weeds. During my weed-pulling, I came across two things of note.
One, a medium-sized white moth flew out of literally THE EARTH after I pulled some random thing out of it. It flew out and appeared disoriented. Really wish I had my macro lens on me. It stayed quite still and let me take photos of it. Best guess so far from iNat is Speckled Green Fruitworm Moth. Wow!
Two, two super small mushrooms under A TON of grasses that were at the base of a short tree stem thing. Firerug Inkcap?? Again, I need to bring my dang macro lens with me to volunteering here!! Also, could’ve really used my mushroom brush…
It was a short volunteer shift for me. Just two hours. Had plans to celebrate surviving two official years of the pandemic with Brian. Had to get home in time to check out our local bars early in hopes of finding an emptyish bar situation we’d be ok with. Couldn’t be late for THAT. On my way out, I had to snap photos of a completely random Bluebells plant that had started to flower. Natalie, our volunteer lead, said she did not plant it. Must’ve been there from the historic gardens days?? Incredible. Spanish Bluebells, perhaps.
Made it to the top where my car was parked near, and I took one last look (and photo) of the gardens. And the volunteers still working. I truly love this place. There’s so much love being put into it. There are so many native plants being planted. There’s a lot to look forward to seeing pop up in the Spring weeks to come.
The Afternoon Naturalist 