Jim,
I love the raintree..and is that a mexican petunia in the forground of the first picture? It's a nice combo!
And the Jacobinia 'Pink Flamingo' is really interesting, it reminds me of those fabulous spider mums.
I'm not sure if this is the correct thread for this next picture..it's more like 'garden oddities'...we've had some
rain (finally !) this week and all sorts of strange items are popping up in the garden. This is near my 'Limelight'
Hydrangea.

It's about 6" x 4" . Should I call 911, UFO alert or the hazmat team?

Hazmat fer sure!
Janice will do! I need help with starting new threads I guess! Are you on dial up?

It looks like a fungus of some kind, probably living on rotting wood in the ground. I would remove it carefully with a shovel, put it in a plastic bag and send it away with the garbage before it produces spores and becomes an everlasting part of your life.

Jim

No Lindsey, that is not a Mexican petunia...it's a pueblo full of Mexican petunias.

Jim

I am frightened, Lindsey!! Looks reptilian, just hatched or something. Burn the dang thing. Quick!!

Does it stink? If so, it's a fungus for sure. Nothing to be afraid of but you do want to remove it carefully and get it out of your garden.

Jim

Well, we do have an odd 'musky' smell, but we've had that for most of the summer. There's nothing
in the immediate area, and I got pretty close to take this picture!

Can you turn it upside down, Lindsey?

Hmm, I am reading The Swarm right now.....

Jim, I love the update!

New thread. http://cubits.org/orchids/thre...

Beautiful Jim, but I have to ask...is that Golden Rain tree as much of a pest there as they are in Cal.? Some idiot decided they would be neat growing along the freeways here. Every seed is viable! I spent the last 7 years of my career pulling, hoeing, chopping, digging seedlings out of the landscape! It's a beautiful tree...from a distance.
The rest of your yard is gorgeous!

I wouldn't plant one right on top of exposed soil in a flower bed and expect not to have to weed in the spring. However, the tree is beautiful and there are things you can do to prevent it from becoming invasive. Mine has grass all around so I cut off the seedlings with my tractor. I use Preen, a pre-emergent in the closest flower bed to keep the seeds from sprouting and I also use lots of mulch. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Jim

I have a gallica rose like that. When I first got here it was stuck in the lawn so I moved all the roses near the well established ornamental trees and pulled sod for three years to make a rose garden which became a rose and daylily and beardless iris garden naturally. Anyway my gallica rose would not behave itself. It was so happy to be out of the grass and in all that nice loose soil that it sent runners across the garden. Needless to say, it ended up back in the grass as a large bush that gets it's runners mowed. My burning bushes are the ones I have to watch for seedlings since they want to be a wall of shrubs. I crawl under and remove seedlings from 2 of them every spring. But they are sure pretty this season. See bottom left pic with aster in Post #420667.