Berries and Mushrooms

We have a very large, volunteer pokeberry plant growing in our lantana and butterfly bush. I let it grow because I was amazed at how fast it grew, and it provided a contrast to the small leaves of the lantana and butterfly bush. The plant, especially the berries, are very poisonous to humans. Birds, however, are immune to the toxins, and they will enjoy eating the fruit. I remember mashing up berries as a child to make purple/red paint in the backyard, and I'm still around to tell about it! I plan to do some research about how to make a dye from the berries when they turn dark purple. I found this and this as a start.

The mushrooms were also in the grass yesterday when I was walking the yard-- probably from the little showers we had on Saturday.

I may have just put two poisonous plants together in one blog post. How's that for living dangerously on an early Tuesday morning?