Joys of Aproaching Autumn& Weird Fungi

It was quite a jolt the other morning, to see that the white Amaryllis Belladonna lilies had suddenly appeared, just like that...no fanfare or drumbeats from the Earth, there they are in all their white beauty....it made me stop and almost dissolve in tears with such gloriousness to see so early in the morning.... they are commonly known as Naked Ladies as the bulb throws up these impressive blooms before there is a leaf to be seen, hence the surprise to see them as heralds of the coming Autumn. I wonder if our Northern Hemisphere cousins have that same reaction of delight when their first crocus appears to herald their Spring...

It is the same time of the year for both of us...we have had a reasonably cool summer so far with not much rain in our area but it almost feels like autumn already...

Now this morning, when filling the birdbath, I saw this black blob under the Holm Oak and thought at first our neighbour's dog had left yet another visiting card....when I went to remove it, I suddenly found instead of a dog turd, a black fungus...where do these things suddenly appear from? I have never seen one in our garden. Then wondered was it edible? Sadly no, it is Daldinia concentrica and grows on dead wood...yet my Holm Oak is very much alive...The edible black fungus is Aricularia polytricha and used a lot in Chinese cooking..

 Quite a few years ago I had the white fungus appear in the garden in front of the kitchen window.It looked like dog vomit ...but no, this too is a fungus and so we have had quite a variety of fungi in various places, one that looked like a gone -to -seed- cauliflower..

I wonder if the opening rains this year will bring a great crop of the small, delectable field mushrooms, they too, appear quietly and are always most welcome....