The Cmouse Tmouse Excellent Adventure: SF Flower and Garden Show (Part the First)

It was great to read Tmouse's account of the show. She took in a lot more of different stuff than did I. Here are a few highlights from my experience, and some photos. Before we left, Tmouse of course showed me around her garden and we discovered some - either morels or false morels in the mulch.


At the show one person who stopped by the CNPS (California Native Plant Society) booth was wearing a fungus teeshirt. Fungus folk are friendly and enthusiastic, and she was excited to hear our morel tale. It seems we would have to cut one in two to determine if it's a real or false morel - real ones are hollow. There were a few other clues that I forget. Morels make good eating it seems.

Some bulbs were also sprouting in Tmouse's garden. I'm not so good at bulbs and forget what this is. A Brodiaea? Very pretty anyway...

On to the show... First thing I saw was this gorgeous display of greenhouses and cold frames. Hmmmm wouldn't they be great? Bit nicer than a closet door turned into a makeshift shelf which is what I'm starting off with!

I loved this Japanese themed garden display...


I especially enjoyed these Hellebores. Have to look into using a few of these interesting dusky pink colored ones maybe in a pot somewhere. (We're not just about natives, just mostly about natives... )


We were both really taken with the Matisse themed display. What great colors! My picture is a bit blurry but you can get the idea. Nice how that big New Zealand Flax (?) in front matches the color scheme.


We especially got caught up in the idea of how easy it would be to make a big display using a few sticks of wood and some felt or other material to weave through...


I always loved miniature gardens as a child, and we met someonw who specializes in making miniature landscapes with succulents - a reinterpretation of the Chinese miniature landscape tradition that the Japanese apparently picked up and turned into the art of Bonsai.


And these Table Aeoniums are just wonderful to touch - so very flat and large - like a dinner plate.


Here is the display Ms T was sharing about - I love the rustic hand rails and hope I can do something like this one day on our property. They were very sturdy and smooth.

Dang! Time for work. I'll post part two later - just a few more pics...

Comments

Town Mouse said…
That's a Triteleia, a native bulb I put in last fall. Interestingly, I had forgotten about the Matisse garden at the show! That's the fun part if two people (or mice) go: You remember different things ;->
You two are attracting fungi right and left!

Thanks for the photo of the accessible garden. I will bookmark this for my permanent file.

Your dual travelogue is much appreciated!
Michelle said…
Oh, I'm jealous. You get edible fungi popping up and I get slime mold! But I'm really jealous because you got to see the show, I just didn't feel like making the trek. Thanks for sharing.
Gail said…
So were they false or real morels? Can you eat the false ones, too? gail
lostlandscape said…
Oh good. A story with a morel to it. Groan. I'm sorry....

Cool pictures. The rustic rails are great with the plants. Sometimes these shows are all about the hardscape--How can newly set out plants look their best? But it's a great planting, and I can see what it would mature into.
Country Mouse said…
According to "All That the Rain Promises and More" a sterling book indeed by David Arora, the false morel is edible if thoroughly cooked, but not good to eat. However, the pictures show false morel to be quite unlike what we saw - I am pretty sure Tmouse's morel is Morchella esculenta, the Morel or White Morel. He says it is "one of the most highly prized of all mushrooms, delicious fresh or dried. It should always be cooked."
Unknown said…
I grew up in "Morel land". Northern MI is full of them, every where! I have gone Morel picking all most every spring of my life. I developed an allergy to them a few years back though so i can no longer eat them. They are delicous!

The false morels are very easy to i.d. once you get close to one. The cap sits atop the stem like an umbrella. Real morels caps are connected to the stem. You cant look under it. the stem and cap are all one piece. if that makes sense.

they are so yummy! in the spring they sell for 25 to $40 a lb.!
Town Mouse said…
I'm rather sure they're the real (not the False) morels and plan to cook them this weekend. I gathered mushrooms with my family all summer when I was a kid, so I'm not afraid to eat them. The fungus expert said these are called "landscaping morels", they come up after you redid your landscape.