WiseAcre Gardens

Musk Mallow is an Old World perennial often seen naturalized around old homesteads. In this case some seed found a less hospitable habitat. While it looks safe and sound behind the BFRs*, growing in a rock quarry is always risky. Next year it may find the ground ripped out from under it.

Musk Mallow – Malva moschata

The pink hibiscus like flowers have a musky odor. The flowers have five notched / ragged looking petals and grow in clusters in the leaf axils. A number of cultivars are grown for color variations, including ‘Alba’ with white flowers, and ‘Rosea’ with dark pink flowers.

The leaves are alternate and lobed. Both the leaves and flowers are edible.

The seed pods aren’t anything special but they do hide something interesting.

Peel away the husk and you find a ring of seed called a schizocarp. I woulda thought a schizocarp is a fish with a split personality. It’s surprising how many times Wikipedia has straightened me out.

…and now for something completely different

You call that a face? One thing for certain, it’s never going to launch a 1000 ships.

Here’s a photo of the dragonfly in case you want to try identifying it. I’m too sore and tired to try, I wrestled BFRs* today and could care less about putting a name to that bug ugly face.

*Big Freaking Rock

Suspend your disbelief. Now visualize a lost world with lush green vegetation punctuated with strange otherworldly growths throughout the landscape.

Now place yourself in this scene. Yummy.

It figures, I can never hold down my fungus. Sorry about upchucking on the stump and making a slimy mess.

Ah, carbonated slime

Only a couple of feet away a really weird structure had grown from the forest floor. It had a familiar look about it but the form was all wrong. This has the look and feel of a shelf mushroom that I often find. The colors and hard shellac finish seem to be the same as the Hemlock Varnish Shelf Mushroom but there are two big differences. Like I said, the form is all wrong and where am I supposed to peak at the underside to see the pore surface? This thing had no bottom and the top was like the growing edge of the normal form. It must be a Mobius Strip Mushroom

See the similarities?

Hemlock Varnish Shelf Mushroom – Ganoderma tsugae

I figured it best to call the Army. Never take any chances when dealing with mutants.

The advance force reported their small arms had no effect. Clearly a more effective unit had to be deployed.

Bacon makes everything better!

…and now for something completely different
Something just didn’t look right in this photo. You get 2 guesses what it is.

A Leopard Frog peaks out from his hiding spot.

I cropped the photo to make a new desktop wallpaper for myself.

click image to enlarge

A unidentified Dragonfly became the subject of another background image.

click to enlarge

I’m too tired tonight to try and identify it. If you’ve got a clue, please leave a comment.

I switched back and forth a bunch of times between the two.
Correctly guess which one I finally settled on and you win a kiss.