Our moss, Janie, took almost instantly... We used an old decaying stump as the center and laid it on its side... Then we just scooped up moss, put it at the base of the stump and in some of the places where it would stay without blowing off the stump or slide down from rain and it has fairly well covered the stump and surrounding area... We gave it some water initially but since then it has survived drought, rain, snow, etc and is doing well... We also move moss and put it around the trunks of trees between where the roots grow outward and most of it takes by just laying it there...
I'm sure there are hundreds of different mosses so I'd recommend using stuff you can find growing in woods in your area since you allready know that is is happy in those parts...