What is this Orange foamy stuff I am finding in the flower garden!?

Question

It seems to be something from an animal maybe, it is left in piles. I squirted one today gently with the hose, and inside it seemed to have a red powder! Pretty strange!

Answer 1

It is slime mold.  It is commonly found in many different bright colors growing in bark mulch and other organic matter and every time a drop of water hits it it explodes sending millions of spores everywhere.  The fact that it has reared its head on the surface means that it may already reach up to 20 feet away from where it is on the surface as it begins to decompose the organic matter where it is found (usually bark mulch)  It is harmless and can be ignored, mulched over, thrown away, etc.  Please don't eat it though.  :-)  But seriously.

Answer 2

It is a mulch fungus - usually comes after a lot of dampness.  If you leave it alone it will turn into a white powder and blow away.

Answer 3

This sounds like a fungus that grows on mulch.  It is really harmless.  Sometimes it is white.  If you carefully pick up the whole glob with a shovel and toss it in the woods or someplace, you may be less apt to have more of it.

Answer 4

I believe it could be a fugi or it could be aphids

Answer 5

It's called dog vomit fungus.

Answer 6

Actually, it's a slime mold, which are quite unrelated to fungi, but that doesn't matter.  The spores have already completely permeated your mulch, just waiting to get wet.  It won't hurt anything, and just leaving it there won't make it worse, but if it's unattractive to you, you can scrape it up and get rid of it, or just turn it under.