Moss 2

This is a different kind of moss from that posted yesterday but it is also very common though more likely to be found on fallen trees as it is pictured here.

Moss 1

This is a great time of the year for mushrooms but it also seems to be the best time of the year for mosses and lichens. The moss pictured here seems to be particularly fond of Garry Oak tree bark as a good place to grow. I took this photo when Fern and I took a weekend walk up Bear Hill Regional Park in Saanich.

Another From Witty's Lagoon

This snail had found a perfect spot to nestle in that lovely moss that Benjamin mentioned. - Fern Long

Miniature Gardens

I'm still fiddling around with various ways of photographing the very small and today's photograph of moss reminds me of a miniature tropical garden. Though mosses are one of the most primitive plants some of them bear a striking resemblance to bromeliads, plants that evolved much later.

Wonderful

After yesterday's promise to try to identify the plants in my photos, I have to confess I have been unable to find out what this mushroom is called. I need to find some good field guides so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. As for the moss, I'm pretty sure we're looking at a species (one of the 350 or so) of sphagnum.

Mosses and....

I selected today's pair of rather junky photos to illustrate something I'm just beginning to realize: I usually ignore anything I don't "know" and since I don't "know" most of what's in the environment, I generally ignore most of what I see. I originally selected the photo above in order to write a little about moss because the forest around Thetis Lake is luxuriously coated with mosses. (When I took the photo I was thinking only about the stream, surrounded by some green and brown areas....) The closer I looked at that big glob of moss the more I realized that there were actually three or four different kinds of moss growing there, not just one moss. When I started to look more closely at some of the other photos I'd taken that day, like the one to the right, I realized it's not just a photo of some orange mushrooms. There are at least three kinds of moss, a green slimy fungus and four or more different kinds of lichen. Some, like the strange coral-like lichen in the upper right corner are even more interesting than the subject of the photo - that dramatic pair of orange mushrooms. So, while I can't promise to identify everything I photograph from now on, I'm going to try, since it is a good way of beginning to see clearly. How many of the plants in today's photos can you identify?

Lichens, Mosses and Succulents

While most of our plants go into dormancy during this cold season, there are a few kinds that flourish, those modest little rock-dwellers, lichens and mosses. Around here they are often joined by little succulents, such as those below. I photographed these within the last couple of days and their rich colors and healthy appearance remind me that winter has its benefits and beauties as well as its inconveniences.(This post was jogged into place by a recent comment from fellow CDP Blogger, USElaine down south in Willits, California.)