This time of year it is usually fun to go outside each day to see what is new in the garden. Things are growing so fast it seems like each day there are new blossoms that have opened or new shoots that have appeared. One day this last week I had two surprises that weren't so nice.

The first was my Harry Lauder's Walking Stick, Corylus avellana 'Contorta'.  I was looking at it, admiring its twisted branches and seeing that its leaf buds were swelling and opening. But then I saw some other bumps, some were grayish and some had a brown shell. Oh no, scale. Not sure what type, possibly brown scale or Lecanium. Since the shrub is small, under 2 and a half feet, and a favorite, I removed by hand all that I could see .  This is a first for this plant so I will definitely be watching it closely.

The other surprise I saw out of the corner of my eye as I rounded the corner to show my husband the apricot colored irises that were blooming in front of the brilliant California poppies. What was that flash of sulfurous yellow  in the empty raised bed? I looked closer at the blob that was at the soil line of the wooden wall of the raised bed and had oozed through between the two boards that make up the wall to the outside surface as well. I know what that is, I read about it in another posting on  the MG blog. This is slime mold. I'll have to take a photo of this. By the afternoon I was shocked to see it had turned to beige. Now it looked like its common name Dog Vomit Slime Mold. I knew I didn't need to be worried about it. It isn't harmful and usually appears where there is decaying material, like a raised bed where I had put a wood chip mulch a few months ago. If I ever see it again, I will get the picture right away, because the yellow was kind of cool.

This is one of the reasons I like gardening so much. There is always something new to see or learn no matter how old you are.