Garden Pic Wednesday: Old Man of The Woods

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Our Mr. Coffee Maker died yesterday morning. So I made morning coffee by boiling water in a pan on the stove, then slowly pouring it into the drip cup.
In the evening, Hubby and I went to Walmart to get a new one. I like the 5-cup models that have an auto-turn-off, so I don't have to worry about whether I turned the coffee off or not.
We found one such model, another Mr. Coffee, which was much nicer then the previous model---but when we got it home I discovered it had a factory break in the tank, right behind the coffee pot, invisible in the shadows just under the part the holds the filter. I didn't notice it till I tried pouring water in the tank only to have it splash out all over the counter.
So back to Walmart for an exchange. The we checked the new one right there and it was perfect.
 So, I had a normal coffee experience this morning.

Today's Garden Pics are a interesting mushroom and my pretty peppermint colored 4 O'clocks:

First, this Mushroom:
Took me a while to track down the name online, but this  specimen is called, "Old Man of The Woods." 
It is an edible mushroom; however, it's not rated as the best tasting. One writer described it as "earthly" flavored and another said, "it tastes like a forest floor."
 I've decided to wait for more desperate times to try any. 
(Always be sure of identification before sampling anything that grows wild.)




My Favorite 4 O'clock:
This breed is called, "Paint," and has a lot of color variation, but this peppermint one with it's mix of white, pink and pink-spattered flowers is my favorite.
I'm saving seeds from the several I have to grow more of this color specifically (hopefully)
They open around 5 pm and stay open until early morning sometime. They make my garden a nighttime delight of color. Yellows, Pinks, Oranges, Peppermint.
Here, in the South, these are perennial, coming up from the same bulbous root yearly; in the North, they're annuals.
Still a cottage garden classic that self-seeds readily and is quite bushy and showy.



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