Reprinted with permission from Kathy McDonald’s Facebook post dated January 3, 2019:
I am reading the Magical World of Moss Gardening by Annie Martin, and I am getting hooked on these tiny green beauties. Imagine a landscape of varied shades of green that requires no mowing. In Japan, moss gardens have been around for centuries. In the US, the Portland Japanese Garden in Washington Park covers 5.5 acres. I am thinking of a trip to the Northwest, and found the Butchart Gardens of Vancouver Island, British Columbia has a Japanese Moss garden that includes Moss genera found all over the world.
Check out Annie’s book, the Facebook page Go Green with Moss, or the website Mountain Moss to learn more and maybe we can get started together to convert our yards this Spring!
More about Mosses
According to Wikipedia, “Mosses are small flowerless plants that typically grow in dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or shady locations. The individual plants are usually composed of simple leaves that are generally only one cell thick, attached to a stem that may be branched or unbranched and has only a limited role in conducting water and nutrients.”
“There are approximately 12,000 species. They reproduce using spores, not seeds, and have no flowers.” They are one of the most common components in peat, hence the name peat moss (mostly the genus Sphagnum) used for identifying mosses by gardeners and florists.
See also “Moss is no Weed. It’s a brilliant addition to the garden” by Adrian Higgins found in The Washington Post‘s Home & Garden Section. It’s a really excellent article.
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