Return of the Stinkhorns

Earlier in the summer, I discovered a freakish crab-leg-looking thing growing in our garden. Mr. was very curious, and so he googled "alien chicken foot in my garden" and came up with a stinkhorn mushroom. Apparently, these things appear inexplicably (often in urban settings), attract flies, stink to high hell, and look like crab legs, chicken feet, octopus tentacles, or phallic figures.

Gross.
Gross.
Really gross.

Anyway, we dug it up, wrapped it in plastic bags, and threw it away. For months now, no sign-- but today I discovered another one, almost in the same place. Some of the literature we discovered said that once you've got them, they spread voraciously and they are notoriously difficult to get rid of, so I am quite nervous that they may come back again. I tried very carefully to dig up everything nearby, but I think I'm going to mulch that spot just to be sure.



This one is considerably less freakish than our first one, but had I left it for another day or two, I'm sure it would turn into alien spawn again.