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Fungi in Gardens
By Jassy Drakulic, author of RHS Fungi for Gardeners, available for pre-order or on shelves on 9th October 2025
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When you think about places to find fungi, you probably think about woodlands or grasslands, but maybe not gardens. I would agree with you, having spent countless hours traipsing around the grounds of botanical gardens in particular. Most years, I find far more species in the woods than at RHS Wisley, where I work - despite both having extensive soil and green plant cover that should be teeming with invisible microbial fungi. Are gardens really depleted of fungal life, or are they actually full of fungi but the conditions make it harder or less necessary to produce fruiting bodies as often?
My interest in garden fungi stemmed from helping gardeners reduce damage from honey fungus root rot—a potentially lethal disease to which almost no plants are wholly resistant. Why does this pathogen cause such havoc in gardens when in woodlands it's far less harmful? Part of the difference lies in species preferences: gardens are prone to infection by the pathogenic Honey Fungus, Armillaria mellea, whereas UK Oak woodlands more commonly feature Armillaria gallica, which prefers dead material and only infects living plants already in poor condition. Gardening practices also neglect fungal communities - through greater soil disturbance from digging and landscaping, removal of naturally dying or pruned plant parts instead of recycling them, use of synthetic or organic amendments that deter natural mycorrhizal associations, and irrigation methods that favour certain fungal traits over others - and there is a working hypothesis among fungal ecologists that these depleted communities put up less of a fight to slow the spread of pathogens like Honey Fungus.
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​Interestingly, the trend for gardens to have fewer fungal fruiting bodies than woods has reversed in some instances. The British Mycological Society’s Autumn Field Meeting in 2024 yielded dismal finds in ancient woodlands while marginal lands around the hosting hotel's golf course boasted lawns full of waxcaps. Throughout RHS Wisley’s Jubilee Arboretum, different fungi fruited all autumn while mycologists complained about poor yields at their usual spots. So perhaps gardens do have plenty of fungi in them already but are rarely permitted to reach their full potential.
If so, it seems to me like gardeners are missing the opportunity to benefit from all the bonuses that fungi bring to their natural habitats – like making gardens more water-wise, sustainable, and resilient against stress or disease. If gardeners were to embrace these unsung heroes as they have done for pollinators and other wildlife, gardens could become places where fungi thrive. Gardeners don't need to master mycology, but bridging a few key knowledge gaps will help.
Firstly, we as gardeners can do more to support saprotrophic recycler fungi in all their forms. While composting is already celebrated in horticulture, Inkcaps on tree stumps usually elicit fear and mistrust, even though such wood decay fungi enrich the soil and are hugely supportive for wildlife. Instead of being overly tidy, gardeners can add varying types of dead plant material back into gardens to keep decay fungi well-fed. Crucially, we can better mind the mycelium in soils and on plants by allowing fungal communities to develop naturally. This involves avoiding fungicides and commercial fungal inoculants and gently top-dressing with mulches that suit the plants in the bed instead of digging-in soil improvers.
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​As cultivating fungi grows popular, we need to choose spawn wisely and select locally-sourced fungi to avoid distant species or strains escaping into the environment, as happened with Golden Oyster, Pleurotus citrinopileatus(1) , in North Amercia. Plus, I would encourage any hesitant gardeners to befriend fruiting bodies and become familiar with fungal forms, taking time to notice and appreciate them.
Modern gardening increasingly embraces wild elements like log piles and wildlife habitats, moving away from rigid control. Adding fungi should be a natural next step, but misconceptions persist and it will take time for gardeners to view fungi as beautiful instead of beastly. By welcoming fungi, gardeners create truly living ecosystems that will hopefully feature fungal fruiting bodies more often in years to come.
Reference:
(1) Veerabahu A, Banik MT, Lindner DL, Pringle A, Jusino MA. Invasive golden oyster mushrooms are disrupting native fungal communities as they spread throughout North America. Curr Biol. 2025;35(16):3994-4002.e4. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2025.06.049