Moss Garden

I love your moss garden
Is there a special technique to add them to a rock garden?

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Nothing special Deb. Mosses are very easy. You need a shady spot and they like it damp. I collect the mosses in as large a piece as I can get. The soil that I place it on has lots of organic matter in it I ususally mix in sawdust to the soil as well. If you can get it on a chunk of wood all the better. Just place and press hard to make sure you have good contact. There is always 1 inch of water just under the surface of the bog. I also propagated the moss onto the rocks at the edge and that now wicks up moisture as well.

Propagation is easy. Place moss and buttermilk (yes buttermilk) into a blender. Blend to a thin slurry, like a thick paint. Brush it over the rocks, keep them in deep shade and moist….Voila!....moss covered rock.

-- Bob, Carver MA USA, Zone 6b, Annual Rainfall 48" http://capecodbaychallenge.org

I’ve seen the buttermilk trick before used on concrete statuary like birdbaths. Very cool.

I don’t have bog conditions but we do live in a temperate rain forest so I might have to try this in my shady spots this year.

-- Former plant killer. Current plant damager.

Hello Karla….temperate rainforest? Sounds like the pacific northwest. Ah….I see you’re in BC. I’m envious…it’s like New England on steroids out there. Moss should do very well. You can do something very similar with lichens as well. I put lichen and water into a blender and just coarsely blended them. I then took a 2” paintbrush and dabbed it into the bark of the cherry tree in my garden. Now the trunk is covered with funky looking lichens all over. I also painted some rocks. Some are now completely covered.

-- Bob, Carver MA USA, Zone 6b, Annual Rainfall 48" http://capecodbaychallenge.org

That is a beauitful garden!

-- http://woodsongsfurniture.com

Very nice. I like the moon gate.

I think I’m getting too much inspiration from this site. When does spring arrive?

spring arrive??? Not soon enough!!!

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

I have lots of moss growing in my lawn-area in front of my house (facing east) is there any way to remove the grass completely without hurting the moss. I like the moss a lot better than grass and not just because it doesn’t need cutting.

That is so very pretty. I would love to have something like that, but I’m afraid it wouldn’t fit in my yard (I live in a mobile home park, lol).

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

I’m not sure fefie…grass is tough to get rid of, its bound to reseed itself. I’m always pulling small grass plants out of the bog even though it is really well established. Most folks are trying to get rid of moss in their lawns…:).

Dini…my Mom lives in a mobile home park and I built her a niniature vrsion of this graden off her back patio. Just smaller is all.

-- Bob, Carver MA USA, Zone 6b, Annual Rainfall 48" http://capecodbaychallenge.org

that is just beautiful!!!

I too, have a small moss garden that surrounds one half of a pond

-- Central northish Ontario

Your moss garden is beautiful.But I have to ask you.Do you get a lot of “slitheries” around?

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

By “slitheries” do you mean snakes or worms….:) not too many of either. Too wet for the worms…I do see an occasional snake of various varieties but I think they are likely coming in for an occasional drink or hunting. They actually prefer it dry as well. I see more out in the rest of the yard. I’m happy to see them. They help keep the rodent population down and are beautiful creatures in their own right. I do get some salamanders under the rocks but you only see them if you lift the rock.

-- Bob, Carver MA USA, Zone 6b, Annual Rainfall 48" http://capecodbaychallenge.org

Yep…slithery snakes….Just can’t tolerate them in my space.I’d rather use warfarin for the rodents .(lol)

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

I find mosses and ferns to be so satisfying to look at. They have such a serene and mystic life to them. My husband hates our lawn area because it’s not the perfect grassy suburban lawn, but I tell him it’s biodiverse and I lilke the wild violets that grow among the spaghnum moss and wild ferns even sprout up among them.

-- A weed is a plant that is growing where it was not purposefully placed by human hands.

I have to totally agree with you there mmh … “mosses and ferns” are just beautiful. Treefarmer what beautiful gardens you have!!

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

I don’t know how I missed this post. I love the use of moss in a garden, or even in a lawn where real grass won’t grow because of the lack of light. I’ve used the buttermilk trick also. LOL

-- jroot