BS: Moss Gardens

Subject: BS: Moss Gardens?
From: Janie
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 10:00 PM

Anyone have any first hand experience with moss gardens?

Bobert has suggested that I consider a moss lawn since my yard is heavily shaded and very acid. My yard is quite large, gets a fair amount of foot traffic, and because of frequent periods of drought it would be extremely costly to supply the moisture needed to maintain a moss yard, so that is not an option. However, there are significant patches of moss in the yard so I know I generally have the environment for it. I'm wondering about trying to establish a few smallish areas as moss gardens with mosses, ferns, a few shade-loving shrubs and spring ephemerals.

I've been researching on-line. There is a fair amount of information on starting them, but it lacks specificity - and virtually no useful information regarding maintenance. I am not convinced that they are as low maintenance as they are touted to be. Starting them can be relatively expensive.

I'll probably go buy a book about moss gardening, but nothing is so valuable as hearing from people who have experience.

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 11:01 PM

I grew up in the soggy state of Washington, on the western side. Moss abounds. Check out some of the nurseries or arboretum and botanical garden areas up there and in British Columbia. I expect you'll find some good information.

Here in Texas a few ferns exist, but moss is a stranger.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Alice
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 11:53 PM

I think moss gardens are beautiful. Unfortunately, our climate is arid, even though we get deep snow and spring rain. I have a strip of yard that is always in shade, a path between the garage and the house, and that's the one place I have moss and have considered trying to cultivate it.

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Alice
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 12:16 AM

I do have stacked flagstones creating a rock garden along the west wall of the garage, which have lichen, and as it comes to the north corner where the shade is, there is some moss. Stones and lichen and moss together are beautiful.

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Alice
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 12:23 AM

search Google images on moss garden, nice stuff comes up

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 06:54 AM

Vague recollection from the distant past is that many mosses are resistant to dry weather, the fronds drying out, but ready to rapidly absorb a large amount of water rapidly when rains arrive.
The outshot of this is that they do not die in the dry (obviously there is a point beyond which they will not recover), but would not be a "display" under such conditions.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Bobert
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 09:34 AM

Moss is very versitile, Janie... I saw on one of my gardening shows a garden in North Carolina... The owner had moss growing exclusively where there wasn't alot of sun... From what you've said, that is waht you have... Also, moss does very well in acid soil... The gardener in that segament siad she just went out into the woods and scooped up the moss, brought it home and replanted it... We have a moss garden here and it does very well... Shade or semi-shade seems to be the most important aspect of growing good moss...

Keep us posted...

BTW, if yer having trouble finding moss then get in yer car and come on up for a couple days... There's plenty of it back in the woods...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Janie
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 09:49 AM

Bobert, how long did it take for the moss to establish itself in your moss garden?

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: maeve
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 10:20 AM

It's been a while since I've researched this suybject so I've searched for some helpful information for you, Janie. Here are some helpful links:
forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/.../msg0314571725708.html

http://bryophytes.science.oregonstate.edu/page32.htm

Brooklin Botanic Garden

Your plan sounds marvelous. Keep us posted, will you?

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 10:34 AM

I'd never even thought about what mosses need to grow well until I opened this thread. So, I took a walk around our property and noted where moss is growing well and came up with a couple of observations.

We have very sandy soil, but much of it has a layer of decayed leaf litter over it. Contrary to what you might expect, the moss tends to grow on the bare sand patches not where there's lots of organic matter. Though it needs a fair amount of moisture, it seems to not like having perpetually wet feet and the sandy patches drain best.

Moss also seems to do best in areas that get a fair, but not excessive, amount of sunlight. It's a green plant, so it has to have sunlight to survive, but too much direct sun dries it out. We seem to have the most moss on the margins of cleared areas such as walking paths where there's a bit of direct sun part of the day, but shade from the trees and bushes much of the time. I think some of us have a tendency to associate moss with relatively dank, dark environments, but that's not where it does well. It likes dappled and partial sun.

So, if I wanted to try to cultivate moss, I'd start with the soil. If it doesn't drain well, add a layer of sharp sand. Then evaluate the light. If the area where you want the moss to grow is in either perpetual shade or direct sun, see what you can do to increase or decrease available light. Plant, remove, or transplant vegetation to get available sunlight into the partial, not full, shade range.

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Bobert
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 10:56 AM

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...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 02:04 PM

Janie - You can't beat Bobert's principle of selecting plants which are already growing wild locally in physical conditions similar to your garden. You are more likely to have success than if you buy something exotic which simply does not belong there.

Also found this link on Wikipedia - Moss Growers Handbook.
It may give you something useful.

Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 02:53 PM

Bee-dubya-ell makes a good point about drainage. Mosses need acidity and moisture, but drainage is essential to good growth, otherwise molds and rotting becomes a problem.

The problem is severe with epiphytic orchids (those on trees), which naturally receive rainwater and the organic nutrients in the runoff. Trying to judge the proper balance in a greenhouse situation has frustrated many who lack patience.

Someone also recommended the use of local mosses, or those recommended for your climatic zone. There are many species, some do well here in deep-frozen Alberta, if dappled sun in summer, good drainage, slightly acid conditions and moisture are provided.
There are some small flowering plants that do well with mosses; forest floors with the right conditions are beautiful with their lilliputian gardens.

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Ebbie
Date: 13 Dec 09 - 05:35 PM

Until more than 20 years ago I hadn't realized that mosses differ greatly in appearance. My first summer in Alaska I worked at a wilderness lodge. I worked a split shift which gave me lots of roaming time.

One of the things I came up with that was popular with tourists (who were flown in for several hours for dinner in waves of 25 or so, four or five times a day) was a large basket that I lined with moss that I gathered and then inserted mushrooms of amazing colors and shapes and sizes, colors ranging from browns and tans to pinks and lavenders that I found in the woods surrounding the wilderness compound. The only one I didn't pick was the Amanita, for fear that some cognition-impaired person would break off a piece and pop it in his or her mouth. But I found an amazing assortment of 'shrooms, from fingertip sized thin stalked fairies to the broad umbrella shaped ones to huge 'bear bread'.

The mosses varied also, from masses of tiny lobelets to broad flat-topped leaflets and from the palest, most delicate greens to brilliant emerald.

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: GUEST,LynnT
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 09:14 AM

Janie,
I have a section of my back yard just outside DC that is what you describe -- planted to moss, with ephemerals popping through, and edged by opiphigion (dwarf mondo grass) -- the mondo grass can take foot traffic better than the moss can, but likes the same dappled-sun-poor-sour-soil environment, so I laid it in where we tend to walk. I started with a small amount of moss that I spread by means of a technique I learned on the GardenWeb forums -- I bought a cheap blender at a thrift store, and threw a heaping cup of shreddded moss in along with a quart of plain yogurt that was a bit past its prime. Whirl it up, and thin the resulting mess down with another quart of lukewarm water -- spread that out on bare sandy soil (I dipped it up in a perforated serving spoon, then tapped the handle to disperse the droplets) and in about a week you'll see the moss start to sprout. I did this with the flat velvety kind of moss -- not sure how it would work with thes stuff that looks like tiny pine trees.

It is NOT the lowest-maintenance section of my garden -- it takes a lot of weeding and in the fall I lay down bird-netting so I can flip off the leaves without having to rake the delicate hummocks.

Here is a FAQ on growing moss from the GardenWeb Moss & Ferns forum:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/crypto/msg0811170823473.html


LynnT

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 09:47 AM

Without trying, I always seem to end up with a moss covering (and mini-ferns) in my indoor plant pots, which looks good and prevents soil spray when I water them...

Poem 141 of 230: IN A SMALL POT

(TUNE:

D F# F# F#
G F# E E
D E E E
F# E D D)

I like Acers
    But rent a flat,
So mimic one
    In a small pot:

As for starters,
    I made a plat
Of ivy run
    Out from one spot;

To this basis,
    All round the mat,
In a trunk-bun,
    Dirt - soaked a lot;

Without traces
    (Not got down pat),
A moss-lawn spun
    And short-ferns shot;

And, like Acers,
    Branches have sat -
Wirework done -
    Toward the pot;

Trimmed with scissors,
    This foliage-hat
Thrives in the sun
    Of my sill-plot.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 11:08 AM

And oh! The things you can do with moss.

Lost Gardens of Heligan

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 05:07 PM

That link goes to google, Virginia..?

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: maeve
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 05:25 PM

This perhaps, Tam? Lost Gardens of Heligan

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: open mike
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 06:35 PM

try this...if you do not put "http:www"...it cycles back to mudcat...
Gardens of Heligan

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Janie
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 01:31 AM

I'm gonna experiment in a very small area. Have been reading your comments and checking out the links but no time right now to acknowledge or thank folks. Hope you will continue to contribute your thoughts and experinces.

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 02:29 PM

arrghhh.   Janie

gooogle Lost Gardens of Heligan images. Wonderful moss people/scupltures

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: Janie
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 04:34 PM

Thanks VT. Actually, I had come across images of the Lost Gardens of Heligan a few days before I started this thread, as I was just beginning to wonder about moss gardens. I would love to tour the gardens. The images are quite wonderful.



I'm becoming obsessed. I can't walk anywhere without studying the ground and stopping to bend over and take a close at any little patch of moss I see, noting the conditions in which it is growing.

Subject: RE: BS: Moss Gardens
From: open mike
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 05:31 PM

i saw on the local news last night that a florist from here is helping design a float at the rose bowl parade (new years's?) using local moss

http://www.khsltv.com/content/localnews/story/Chico-Product-Used-on-Rose-Parade-Float/666zBB9TwkOowJ2NYwf4zA.cspx