Well it was a very odd June, humidity and high heat and it went by so fast.

Things have been going fast and furious here at E.A. Quinn this past month. Our paver and landscape divisions have been doing beautiful work around town. Our maintenance and fertilization crews are up to speed so that you can relax and enjoy the weather.

Mushrooms are truly unique organisms, and their ability to recycle agricultural wastes, tree stumps, and other decomposing matter is usually not fully appreciated when they are doing this right in the middle of our lawns.

We are talking about the mushroom-producing fungi that are lawn management or nuisance problems but do not necessarily cause lawn diseases.

Mushrooms, sometimes called toadstools, are the fruiting structures of some kinds of fungi, others found in lawns include inky caps, puffballs, stinkhorns and bird’s nest. 

Most fungi in lawns are beneficial because they decompose organic matter, thereby releasing nutrients that are then available for plant growth.

Lawn mushrooms feed of decaying matter such as:

Construction scraps of lumber
Rotting tree stumps, roots
Old mulch, Animal waste

The more food sources for the fungi in your yard will pretty much ensure the presence of lawn mushrooms in your yard. 

Picking mushrooms, puffball, stinkhorns, or others after they appear may prevent the spores from spreading to new sites.  The primary reasons for removing mushrooms from lawns are to keep them away from children and pets (because you don’t want them eating them by accident) and to improve the lawns appearance.  When the food source is greatly reduced or eliminated so are the visible signs (mushrooms) of this organic process.

Here are some means of control:

Reduce irrigation – many mushrooms are associated with over-irrigation or poor drainage, and mushrooms tend to go away as the soil dries out. So water your yard less and at the appropriate times.

Better Air Movement – removing excess thatch and aerating the soil to improve water penetration may help in some cases.

Fertilize – you can sometimes eliminate mushrooms growing from organic matter by applying nitrogen fertilizer.  This helps, because fertilization speeds up decomposition of organic matter.

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These flowering plants whether they are annuals, perennials, or biennials are being treated in this article as warm-season annuals because some of them aren’t from our growing zone.

African Daisy (Arctotis) – originated in southern Africa. Low growing, silvery/green lobed leaves and the colors: white, pink, orange, yellow, and red.  Beautiful for the border where the profusion of color is steady throughout the summer until frost and excellent for cutting,

Fanflower (Scaevola aemula) – from Australia; some forms are prostrate, others upright to 2.5 feet tall.  Flowers are all along the branches. The most familiar ‘Blue Wonder’, it has a bigger flower, which is great in hanging baskets.

Gazania (Gazania rigens) This bright trailing annual comes in a host of colors. Gazanias are tender perennial grown as an annual in harsher climates. The really cool part is the flowers close at night.

Wishbone Flower (Torenia)  This is normally a shade plant, but is grown in Texas in full sun, in 107 degree heat and yet this plant does just fine.  There is the Moon series which is more bushy and upright to 1 foot tall and as wide; The Summer Wave series is a trailing type and is also great in full sun.

They will mound up, if they get to tall, just cut them down. Torenia founieri ‘Purple Moon’ and the new Torenia fournieri ‘Golden Moon’ is a lovely yellow and purple combination.  It is a great plant for full sun or shade, hanging baskets or containers. It’s like a flowering Kudzu.

I as you know am a proud perennial gardener however; even I every now and then want to spice it up a bit.  Try something new!

We at E.A. Quinn hope you had a safe and happy July 4th weekend andcontinue to have an enjoyable, relaxing summer.

Remember all feedback is appreciated – send it to me donna@eaquinn.com