How are you enjoying our nice, warm summer hikes, when you don’t have to put on so many layers that it’s hard to walk, and we can end many of our hike days with these enjoyable picnics in the park.  There’s certainly allot more nature to add to your hiking pleasure.  Along the trails we hike, we can find many different kinds of mushrooms, unless the rainfall is much below average, which has not been the case so far this year.  Many of you have taken some very nice pictures.  How about posting your pictures on this web site, so we’ll have a collection of what we’ve seen.  If, after seeing your picture, on a larger screen than your phone, I can identify it, I’ll add it to the picture.

So, from now, till the first killing frost, which is usually around the middle of October, let’s see what mushrooms we can find on our Sunday hikes, take pictures, and post them on this site.  Be sure to look at the underside.  Most will have gills but some will have pores or teeth, instead.  This is where the mushroom produces spores, that are carried by the wind and spread, and is the first step in identifying mushrooms.  Your pictures, therefore, should show the underside, as well as the top.

If we find any good edibles, and you think you might like to bring  some home to try, carry a paper bag with you.  Plastic is not recommended because they can sweat and rot inside.  Remember that there are many wild mushrooms that can cause mild to severe discomfort, or even, death.  NEVER even think of eating a wild mushroom, unless you are absolutely sure of its identity.  Mushroom roulette is a deadly game  Any, that I tell you are safe, are ones that I have eaten, and am still here to write about them.  You can use this opportunity to learn about mushrooms, or buy them at the store, and help Mr. Wegman pay the taxes on his house on Canandaigua Lake.

Picking mushrooms is not like digging up wildflowers, which destroys the entire plant.  The mushroom is just the fruiting body of the fungus.  The mycelium radiate hundreds of feet in the soil, and will send up more mushrooms, making it a renewable resource.  Some of the mycelium wrap around tree roots, bringing the host tree essential water and minerals.  The tree makes organic compounds through photosynthesis, that nourish the fungus, making each dependant on the other.

We have the good fortune of having had some joint ventures with RAMA, the Rochester mushroom club, where we have met people who know mushrooms far better than Georgia and I do, such as Garrett Taylor of Olean, who has joined us on some of our hikes.  You can see pictures of some local mushrooms on the RAMA web site, www.rochestermushroomclub.org.   In the near future, we will have the opportunity to meet some more people who have expertise on mushrooms.  The dates are:

Suinday, September 8:  At our hike in Wesley Hill, we will be joined by Richard Aaron of Toronto, a member and leader of the local mushroom club, there.

Wednesday, September 11:  At the meeting of the Springwater Webster’s Crossing Historical Society, attendees will bring in mushrooms that they’ve collected and, after a pot luck dinner, specimens will be discussed and identified by Dr. Randy Weidner of Bath.

Saturday, September 14: At the magnificent Fiddler’s Fair, there will be a table of mushrooms collected at the maple farm, and members of RAMA will be there.

Sunday, September 22:  Don Tuminelli of Conesus (ex president of RAMA) will be there to review mushrooms collected at Katherine’s Christmas Tree Farm.

Cecropia Moth caterpillar taken by Pati in Springwater, NY

Here is a picture of a cecropia moth caterpillar, taken by Pati, in her garden.  You can tell it’s a caterpillar, as opposed to another kind if insect larva, by the 4 pairs of abdominal prolegs, that it’s using to hold onto the branch.  Like all moths, it makes its transformationm from larva to adult inside a silk cocoon.  The silk in the cocoon of a certain moth, the silkworm, Bombyx mori, is of high enough quality to make commercial silk.

The adult cecropia moth, from the caterpillar in the picture, is quite large and rather nice looking.  I have a picture of it in my insect book and can show it to you on a Sunday hike.

A few weeks ago, we spent a week in Allegany State Park.  Although it was June, many of the trees there looked more like December.  If you spread a blanket under a tree that still had some leaves, trying to get some shade, before long, there would be a bunch of ugly, fuzzy caterpillars on it.  Trunks and lower branches were riddled with last year’s egg masses.

Back in the 19th century, before the invention of synthetic fabrics, silk was a very popular clothing fabric.  This material is made from the cocoon of a certain moth and there were many silk farms in the country.  One producer from Massachusetts had the idea that if he could cross the silkworm with a certain silk producing moth from Europe, the result would be a moth that was more productive and disease resistant.  So, he brought a few specimens over and reared them in a cage in his yard.  One night, a strong wind knocked the cage over, some of the specimens escaped, and the gypsy moth was loose in the country.  Having no natural enemies, it multiplied, extended its range every year, and now infests the northeast part of the country.

For the gypsy moth life cycle, go to www.fs.fed.us/ne/morgantown/4557/gmoth/cycle.  Eggs hatch around May, when the leaves emerge.  Massive populations of leaf eating caterpillars have been known to completely defoliate large trees by the end of June.  Young caterpillars aften hang from trees by silk threads and are spread by the wind.   Adults emerge in July after a short pupation, usually in bark crevices.  White females don’t fly but remain attached where they emerged.  Brown males fly around, looking for females.  After mating, the female lays several hundred eggs in a white fuzzy mass.

Often, the white females can be seen on tree trunks, within reach.  Killing those you can will benefit the forest.  Eggs can be killed by scraping them into a jar of alcohol.  Scraping them off the tree onto the ground does no good at all.  The eggs are still alive and will hatch the following spring.  If your travels take you to Allegany State Park, you will find many eggs you can kill, to help the park’s trees.  Sometimes, females and egg masses have been found on the bottom of trailers.  When the trailers are moved, moths are spread to a new area.  Sprays that contain fungi or bacteria that kill the caterpillars have been used in heavily infested areas, with some success.

The spreading gypsy moths got some members of Congress thinking about legislation to regulate imports.  The incident that got Congress to act occurred in 1910 when the Nation of Japan sent a friendship gift of flowering cherry saplings, to add some spring color to Washington.  Along with the saplings was a little green and bronze beetle, the progeny of which you may have seen on your roses this year.  Before the decade was up, Congress passed a Quarantine Act which gave the government authority to regulate all imports of meat, produce and all live plants and animals.  The agency created to enforce this act, the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, whose acronym sounds like a garden pest, provided this writer with gainful employment.

Sweet Peas

Mid-July is upon us,  and the Little Finger Lakes area is filled with summer wildflowers that dot the sides of roads, trails, fill the unmowed fields, and isolated sunny areas in the forest.  I plan to take a walk tomorrow and photograph these colorful flowers blooming this time of year. Keep on eye on our photo gallery for new photos of summer wildflowers which will be added throughout the summer season.

Wild Bergamot

Identifying wildflowers and herbs is somewhat of a hobby of mine and I consider myself an amateur.  I starting my hobby over 20 years ago when we moved to Bald Hill in Hemlock.  Before building my home, I took a trip to Sturbridge, Mass and was lucky to meet the museum herbalist while touring the historical gardens.  She recommended a Readers Digest book called Magic and Medicine of Plants, and I purchased some historical medicinal plants such as hyssops, pot marigold, and horehound, and planted them in my garden. From there I began to purchase other herbs and made over 30 different kinds of herbal vinegars, then became interested in the wildflowers and plants that surrounded me between Hemlock and Canadice Lakes.  Today I am mostly interested in native plants and with the help of Amanda Gardens I planted my first native perennial garden this July.    Thanks to 3 friends, Paula Jones, Amy Hapeman and Ellen Folts,  I have increased my knowledge of herbs, wildflowers, woodland plants, and recently native plants around the little finger lakes.

Day Lilies

Many of you have noticed common bright

Chicory roots can be used as a coffee substitute

orange lilies along the roadside called day lilies as well as pretty sky-blue flowers named chicory. Combined with the other colors of oxeye daisies, sweet peas, and Queen

Queen Anne’s Lace has purplish-black dot in middle

Anne’s lace, these flowers make beautiful flower arrangements. Although these are not native plants,  I prefer to leave them in place for others to enjoy and photograph. As I am not a wildcrafter, I never  dig any plant up by the roots as this would destroy the plant.  Note that queen anne’ lace should not be confused with poisonous water hemlock which has a similar look.

St. John’s Wort

Other wildflowers and plants that seem to dot the meadows and roadsides are St.John’s wort, yarrow, dock, boneset, field horsetail, wild bergamot, and garden heliotrope. I remember finding some bouncing bet once along Canadice Lake Road.   The early yellow flowers of coltsfoot have disappeared and the leaves have become very large.  Mayapple leaves have withered and their fruit, if you can find them, could be ripe for eating.   Rose flowers of that invasive pricky shrub, multi-flora rose, have bloomed and emmit a sweet fragrance. My favorite very tall biennial plant, mullein,which can be 8 feet high, has bloomed with lots of yellow flowers this year.  Continued…..planting a native garden and more on summer woodland wildflowers.

mullein can stand 8 ft high