Today’s photography winner is the lichen growing on the wood of the old boards in the backyard. Years ago we had put up a fence around the flowers in the backyard to help keep the dogs out—I could still get in to garden; but it was to try to keep the dogs out. Now there really aren’t that many flowers in the area, but the four main posts and some other boards are still there.

I’d noticed on Monday that there was either moss or lichens growing on the wood, and after some careful consideration I realized that is actually lichens growing and not moss.

Lichens are actually a colony that is composed of two organism that are in a symbiotic relationship. These two organisms are a fungus and an alga (or a cyanobacteria), with the fungus being the more dominant partner, while the alga or cyanobacteria is the one that provides the most nutrients in the the partnership.

The fungus provides the shelter for the alga or cyanobacteria, while the alga or cyanobacteria provides the coloring of the lichen.

I think (weather permitting) I will be trying to get numerous pictures throughout the summer of the lichens growing on the wood–and also trying to keep my eyes out for other lichens, mosses, mushrooms, and other unique plants, fungi, and others to help practice and improve my photography skills.

So the color can