The Magical World of Moss Gardening by Annie Martin

Author:Annie Martin [Martin, Annie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: 2016-02-07T22:00:00+00:00

Your shade garden may not always be shady. My garden has spots of sun in different locations throughout the day.

This rhododendron towers like a mighty oak over the miniature landscape of mosses underneath, providing shade throughout all seasons for mosses that never die back.

* * *

Banking on mosses

“Joy, pure joy.” These three words describe moss gardening for George and Carol Vickery of Brevard, North Carolina. Gardening together has always been a part of their married life. In Florida, they worked diligently to achieve a manicured and pristine landscape. In retrospect, it was not much fun. In fact, they admit to griping at each other under the scorching sun while applying the full gamut of “green thumb” chemicals, deadheading blossoms, and constantly mowing their expansive grass lawn.

Both Carol and George get giant smiles when sharing the joys of their own moss gardening experience. Originally from New Orleans, George visited these mountains regularly each summer as a boy and was intrigued with mosses. Carol, a native of St. Louis, always enjoyed mosses and ferns when hiking. With a shared dream of moving to God’s country, they retired to Connestee Falls, one of the most ideal places in the world for mosses. Little did they realize that soon they would be adopting green as their favorite color in their golden years.

Having transplanted themselves into an environment where mosses abound, they decided to use moss intentionally in their new landscape. The Vickerys wanted to emphasize the natural connection to their surroundings by blurring the boundary between outdoor living space and the adjacent woods on their property. As they put on their moss-colored glasses, they could envision a mossy area on the hill above the stone patio and retaining wall. A steep clay bank 62 feet long by 12 feet tall ran behind the house, so solving erosion control issues and masking the ugliness was a functional priority. From their inside sun room, they wanted grandchildren to see their own visions of green sugar plums, not red clay. Mosses met all of these needs and desires.

A site consultation with me helped them learn which moss species were already growing on their land and which ones could be transplanted into intended locations. After this personal moss gardening lesson, the Vickerys were ready to get started. Methodically, gathering mosses from an old logging road on the edge of their property and purchasing specialty mosses from my mossery, they have transformed the patio hillside into a moss feature with moss art logs over a couple of years. The 60-to-70-degree slope behind the house is now a solid moss bank, and erosion issues have been alleviated. They used Thuidium colonies held down with landscape staples and small twigs until rhizoids effectively connected. George has started a special moss fairy garden for their grandchildren on the side of the house, too.

George and Carol don’t work nearly as hard at moss gardening as they did at traditional gardening. Following my advice to water and walk on their mosses when possible, they have achieved successful results.

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