7/29/09

Look at my roses...wait...What the heck is that?

Last night I went outside to admire the rebirth of my Knockout Roses. Seems that the indestructible Knockout Roses aren't perfect after all. They had acquired some sort of annoying little bug that basically annihalated ALL of my bushes. We took the dead leaves to the store and the nice man hooked us up with some sort of chemical food for the roses. Hubby worked his magic and now my knockouts are knockin me out once again.

While marveling at hubby's handiwork we came across this feast for the eyes:



Eck! What annoying animal shat in my garden?? We got as close as we could and peered at this gross goop.



Hubby went and grabbed a rake and we poked, prodded, and inspected it. Curiously enough, it covered BOTH sides of the clumps of dirt & mulch, leaving us to believe that the perpetrator was stupid enough to eat the mulch and dirt and throw it back up.

So we did what any amateur gardener would do - we mixed it all up with the mulch, and went back inside.

Wrong!!

This morning I peeked out my front door and there it was again! Damn animal! Is it deer, rabbit, or the elusive coyote? So annoying!

So I decided to consult my friend Google, and it turns out that there is no creature dropping excrement in the shadow of my Knockouts - it is mulch fungi! More specifically it is "Serpentine Slime Mold". Huh? Seems that it is natural and perfectly harmless, but it is contagious. Apparently we were supposed to carefully scoop it into a plastic bag and dispose of it, because mixing it in will release millions of fungi spores all over the garden. Of. Course. It. Will.



I found this lovliness under my lilies this morning. Seems like those floating spores did their handiwork overnight. Well, there it will sit all the long day until hubby gets home and rescues me from mold & slime & spores, and "carefully scoops up the fungi and deposits it into a plastic bag for disposal".

In the meantime, it better stay FAR AWAY from my lovely Knockouts!






Apparently we aren't the only ones that mistake this Slime Mold for animal waste.


And for all of you Mycologists out there, apparently there is
Slime Mold Fine Art to be had. Huh?
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Susan is hosting Outdoor Wednesday over at her blog. And since I am sure the weekly Garden Club will love my animal poop/mulch fungi story - I decided to join them today.
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6 comments:

  1. Very nice post. You really have to watch, as I have had bug problems with some of my plants. Glad your hubby solved most of the problems.

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  2. EWWWW! Great post. I too would have made that same mistake, lol.

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  3. great post!!
    i would have done the same thing...so glad you found out what it was...
    come see our campmeeting!
    enjoyed sharing!

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  4. Oh my gosh. It spread overnight that much? Wow. Nasty stuff. Good Luck!
    Dawn

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  5. Terrific post! Serpentine Slime Mold - who would have ever thunk it:-). I loved your photos.

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