Rising temperatures in the spring is accompanied by new birds, new flowers, and new mushrooms. One type of morel we are most likely to encounter early in the season is the landscape morel. Landscape morel refers to the habitat where at least 2 different morel species can be found.
Today Mar 31, 2023 the low elevation areas around the Puget Sound basin and along the I-5 corridor into Portland are warm enough for these early season morels. Start checking your yard and the neighborhood for morels growing on woodchips. These are difficult to predict since they only grow on woodchips for one season but they can be found all around us.
Riparian Morel and Verpa
Verpa and Yellow Morels will be found along river bottoms along with hardwood trees like cottonwood and oak. These can be a little trickier habitats to navigate due to blackberry brambles however once you find a spot, you will likely continue to find morels there in future years.
The season is just getting started in the low elevation areas. With more rain coming these low elevation areas should continue to fruit for weeks. As the season progresses these landscape and riparian morels will be found further inland and at slightly higher elevations. From April and well into the summer additional morel species will fruit at higher elevations and into eastern Washington and Idaho.
The season is upon us. Now is an excellent time to take more walks around the neighborhood paying close attention to wood chips and hardwoods in riparian zones.
