The Blob

This week's column really is a mixture of good news, bad news and strange news. And here's the latter: Fuligo septica, a slime mold, has appeared in two places on the east side of the house, one on the ground on some pine needles and the other smack on top of a newly planted creeping thyme. To put it politely, it looks like hardened gobs of yellow whipped cream. I'm told it does no harm, and you really can't get rid of it. I scraped it off the thyme, but a gray sort of netting remains.

Here it is, underneath some volunteer four o'clocks.