I suppose too many funguses are just too similar for even the
knowledgeable folks to be certain from pictures alone, but folks did
recognize the Turkeytail I needed identified previously, & when I finally
knew waht it was, I looked up everything I could, & it was SO interesting
that knowing about it really extended my fondness for having it appearing
in the yard. So maybe this one too won't be impossible:

http://www.paghat.com/images/cupfungus_mar.jpg

These have been growing throughout late winter along the edges of a pretty
well rotted length of cardboard I laid down late last year to kill grass
as part of the in-advance prep for a garden extension. These were also
growing on a soaked rattan doormat I did finally throw in the trash, but
kept it quite a while just for the cool fungus. The photo was taken this
week, in a morning-sunned wet location in my garden on the west side of
Puget Sound.

I think it's lovely stuff & I won't disturb their areas while it's active.
If I knew more specifically what it was -- a genus at least -- I would
look up as much stuff as I could about it, cuz I like to know everything I
can about whatever's in my gardens.

This is probably even more unlikely, but thought I'd take a chance & ask
about it even so:

http://www.paghat.com/images/lichen_feb.jpg

This lichen is thick all over a Vine Maple and is now spreading into a
cherry tree. I love it, it adds hugely to the beauty of the limbs in
winter. Actually as I look at different patches in the trees, it seems
there could actually be two or three kinds just in the vine maple, but all
are at least spongily loose like the one in this shot, & I wondered if a
genus is identifiable from looks alone.

I've been trying to document in my garden-diary all the mushrooms &
funguses that pop up here & there, but it's such a specialized thing to
figure out what they are. One field trip with the mycological society
didn't teach me much except that it's an enormous subject that'd take a
heck of a lot of concentrated study to even half master.

-paghat

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/