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Garden experts are increasingly embracing fungus In shifts coinciding with the autumn mushroom season, as part of a healthy garden.
Royal Horticultural Society ,rhs) has already seen record numbers of fungi in five of its gardens this season, as this year’s weather has provided perfect conditions for a good display.
Fungi growing in close partnership with plants in sunny spring and summer benefited from being able to make sugars in abundance and deliver them to their fungal partners to help them grow and reproduce, rhs Said.
Recent wet weather has also promoted the growth of spongy-capped mushrooms, known as “boletes”.
At the charity’s Harlow Carr Garden in Yorkshire, more than 768 species of fungus have been recorded – a significant increase from the 570 recorded last year.
These include rare and little-known species and one of these species has been found for the first time UK – Spiculoglea unequalis – which is believed to have been in the country for a long time, has only been identified due to better understanding and interest in documenting the fungus.
At RHS Garden Wisley, more than 20 native species have been hand-reared on agar, with seven propagated on woodchips and logs to provide autumn interest and year-round food and habitat for wildlife, the charity said.
Fungi thriving in RHS gardens this autumn include beefsteak fungus, which grows on oak heartwood, looks and feels like a tongue, and when cut, oozes red juice like a rare steak.
Shaggy inkcaps, which support the soil beneath grassy areas and form tall mushrooms that quickly dissolve in sticky black ink, are also doing well, the RHS said.
The gardening charity says it has completed a “U-turn” on the fungus.
While once discussed as a symptom of garden problems such as waterlogging or disease, fungi are now recognized as an integral part of a healthy natural system.
The charity says about five per cent of the named fungi can cause plant disease, and the species play many roles in modern gardens, from breaking down dead and decaying material and nourishing plants and animals to retaining water in the soil in drought and maintaining soil structure in heavy rain.
The RHS said it is encouraging fungi on its sites and in its advice to gardeners, and has published a new book – RHS Fungi for Gardeners: Know Your Garden Fungi and How to Grow Them, by Jessie Drakulik – to encourage green-fingered homeowners to see them in a new light.
Dr Drakulik, a plant pathologist at the RHS, said: “Fungi have long stood in the shadow of plants, but we are only now beginning to recognize them as fundamental to a fully functioning garden ecosystem.
“There is a lot to understand about fungi but with more effort to support and study them, we can learn how to work with them to get the best from our gardens.”