Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
mclarke_gw

"Wheee" and its strange companion

mclarke
10 years ago

Early this summer I bought a "Wheee".

Evidently it brought along some spores... and last week, this gorgeous thing appeared.

Evidently it's a "Chicken of the Woods" and it's supposed to be edible. Not that I'm gonna eat it, mind you... isn't it purdy? BFFs...

Comments (21)

  • josephines167 z5 ON Canada
    10 years ago

    It is a thing of beauty, to be sure!

    So is your Wheee! Is it on steroids? Lol. I have a new one this year too, but your petioles are extra wide! Lovely BFFs... :-)

    Jo

  • jadie88
    10 years ago

    Looks like you stepped into the midst of a flamenco dance. Two dancers dressed to the nines. Very cool!

  • mclarke
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    So is your Wheee! Is it on steroids?

    It's a nice one, isn't it? There's a nursery near me that occasionally gets some robust specimens. I didn't mean to buy anything that day, but this one just YELLED at me....

    Okay, it didn't yell. It whispered. Seductively. Resistance was futile.

    Looks like you stepped into the midst of a flamenco dance. Two dancers dressed to the nines.

    OH! I love this! Perfect metaphor. All those whirling frills... Thank you!

  • hostahillbilly
    10 years ago

    I would trade you some morels for a piece of that

  • mclarke
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I would take them! Sauteed in butter, please. Or maybe not... maybe we could combine them and have a feast.

    Everyone says I should eat it, but I just love the way it looks. Chicken of the Woods (I'm told) usually grows up on a tree-trunk, but this one decided to hitch a ride with "Wheee".

    I wonder if it'll come back again next year.

  • dg
    10 years ago

    And the obvious question is...does it taste like chicken?

    Your Whee looks great!

    Deb

  • mosswitch
    10 years ago

    We get those in the yard every year. Beautiful when they
    come up but the downside is that when they go down and begin to rot they smell like something dead.

    Never have eaten any. We have them as big as bushel baskets on one dead tree stump.

    Sandy

  • mclarke
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    We get a lot of mushrooms in this yard. I have a book, but I can't always ID them. So I became a member of Shroomery.com. Lots of knowledgeable people there.

    I guess the Chicken of the Woods is choice eating, but I make it a personal policy never to eat them. I understand it DOES taste like chicken, lol....

  • User
    10 years ago

    That is beautiful, both the Wheee! and the Chicken of the Woods. I had some growing in this yard when it was raining every day and was really hot. I did not know what they were, but I took pictures of them.

    It was my feeling that they came from the rotting roots of the 5 pine trees we had ground out beneath the surface of the soil. Also, I saw some in the thick shredded cypress used beneath the pots, and in the walkways. Would it tend to be in conifer roots and bark more than in other tree species of chips? Don't think I've ever seen anything in hickory chips, which would be the same species as the pecan. But of course, I don't use those for mulching.

    Here is my Wheee! back in August

    This fungi stayed around for a couple of months in the cypress mulch..

  • mclarke
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    According to Wikipedia, "Chicken of the Woods" comes in several varieties, and they grow on a variety of different trees... usually trees that are unhealthy or dead. My friends at Shroomery suggested that there might have been spores in the soil that came along with the new "Wheee."

    Moccasin, those are some handsome mushrooms you have!

  • mosswitch
    10 years ago

    These were on an oak tree stump.

    Sandy

  • dg
    10 years ago

    We had some wild looking fungus pop up in July I suppose due to the wet cool start of Summer. They were actually quite beautiful. These were tiny:

  • dg
    10 years ago

    This one was kinda cool:

  • dg
    10 years ago

    So was this guy:

  • dg
    10 years ago

    This was kind of alien looking:

  • hostanista
    10 years ago

    Beautiful fungi for sure but I wouldn't eat it unless I bought some at a grocery store or some specialty mushroom purveyor. Wikipedia says it can be prepared like you would chicken meat and does in fact taste like chicken. Also says some people have a sensitivity and can react badly with swollen lips and nausea among other things. Just appreciate it for its uniqueness!

    Haven't seen too many mushrooms around here lately, but we've had a couple of days of solid rain; that might bring them out. This one is what I call my TATTERED COWBOY HAT mushroom from last season.

  • hostanista
    10 years ago

    These guys were as big as dinner plates!

  • mosswitch
    10 years ago

    It's been a great year for cool fungi. Don't know what this one is, but I like it.

    Sandy

  • mosswitch
    10 years ago

    This is just elegant, on the side of a stump.

    Sandy

  • mclarke
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I love all of these! I'm fond of Hosta because they're beautiful, but also because they're somewhat predictable. Plant a hosta, and if it's happy, it will reappear, year after year. There are some undulata in my brother's yard that are at least 70 years old.

    But mushrooms are exactly the opposite! They come and go as they please, with their spores literally dancing on the wind.

    These are all stunning. DGregory, I must say, your "alien" mushroom is like NOTHING I've ever seen. WOW!

  • jel48
    10 years ago

    We've had an unusual amount of rain this past summer and have seen (as a result) an unusual amount of fungi, of all different kinds! We do normally see a lot of different ones growing in the woods here, but now they are cropping up in yards (both in town (see them in lots of yards as we walk our puppies) and at our camp). We love them too!