The Eerie Lawn Pest That Comes From Our Obsession With Lawns - Facts So Romantic
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Fairy Ring #3Collage by Amy Ross (with permission)The front lawn is an American symbol of middle-class status and respectability. We trim ours with ride-on mowers, condition them with nitrogen, and hydrate them with elaborate sprinklers, largely because they represent us to everyone driving by. Ironically, it’s due to this energetic maintenance that one pest thrives within the coddled haven just outside our homes. The pest, or rather collection of pests, is the “fairy ring”—a group of mushrooms that forms an oddly precise circle. These rings weren’t always an unwanted nuisance. Once, they were even thought to possess a certain magic. According to European folklore, each ring contains tiny winged creatures that parties within its perimeter each evening. One old Welsh story even warned (...)