Lichens are symbiotic relationships between one or more species of fungi and one or more species of algae, along with some cyanobacteria. I'm not good at identifying lichens, but I think this one above is Dimelaena oreina (Golden Moonglow lichen). I saw it at Mt. Laguna.
When I was working (until 15 years ago) I was fortunate to be in a position to collect rocks from areas that were about to become subdivisions. I worked for the City of Carlsbad and I knew when projects were about to break ground. In at least one of these sites there was so much rock that blasting was required. I got out there before the earth movers did and collected as much rock as I could carry. And a lot of these rocks had great lichens on them. Most of them I've had for more than 20 years, and in many cases the lichens have grown while I've had them.
Initially I distributed the rocks around the garden. Then recently I thought it would be good to put the most interesting lichen specimens together to make a "lichen garden." I'm not aware of a lichen garden anywhere else, so this may be the first. It seemed like the best location for visual effect would be among some succulents. The result is subtle from a distance but striking when examined up close. Here's an overall shot of the area which is the Baja succulent section of my garden.
The plants visible here are Dudleya candida (from the Coronados Islands), Cochemiea halei (from the Bahia Magdalena region), Echinocereus maritimus (from the Pacific coast), and Euphorbia lomelii (from the southern peninsula).
Some of the larger rocks making up the low retaining wall have lichens on them, such as these two:
These large foundation stones are nice, but the ones I really want to highlight are smaller and more colorful, like these:
There are several species of lichens in the above photo. I wish I could identify them all.
I believe the yellow one above is Candelariella sp. (goldspeck lichen).
Since these lichens all came from coastal north county, they are doing well in my garden. They require no care at all, and they are the perfect complement to the plants. That's my lichen garden and
I'm pleased with it.
Very cool, it must be fun to watch them change over the years. Do you ever have issues with winter rain on your southern Baja species?
ReplyDeleteYou're right, it is fun to watch them, but they don't change very fast. It takes many years to see growth. I have had a few southern Baja plants die from unknown causes, but I have not had major problems with them. For a while I was putting the ones in containers in a shed for the winter, but later I decided that was too much trouble and unnecessary. I think one thing that helps is that we do not get really cold rain in Encinitas, so the plants seem to tolerate it. My current opinion is that they are more sensitive to frost than to winter rain, as long as they have good drainage.
ReplyDeleteThat is good to know, I might stick a few southern species in the ground and see how they do.
ReplyDeleteGood idea. What are you thinking of planting?
ReplyDeleteI have a Corynopuntia invicta and a Jatropha cuneata, both pretty small in pots right now that I might try. An Agave sebastiana would probably do well also but my tiny one from Arid Lands isn't ready yet.
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