Moss Gardens and Waterfall Feature
What if we told you that there is a plant that requires only a small amount of water, yet stays green all year long? It can be grown as a lawn, but requires no fertilizers, pesticides, clipping, mowing or mulching. This dream plant is also eco-friendly, low maintenance, and incredibly beautiful.
Despite common misconceptions, moss is ALL of these things and more.
Mosses are the oldest terrestrial plants on earth and even predate the dinosaurs. They have survived all this time without pollen, seeds, flowers or even roots… in fact that may be the key.
Vibrant Moss Garden grows beneath glass table and between stepping stones
They get all of their nutrients and moisture through their leaves making them simple, durable, as well as sustainable, drought tolerant and eco-friendly. In fact, collectively, mosses provide more carbon offset than all the trees in the world put together. Now THAT is green!
David Spain and Ken Gergle of Moss and Stone Gardens know the virtues of moss better than just about anyone. They became fascinated with moss over 12 years ago and began designing and installing moss covered landscapes in Raleigh, NC.
Today, Moss and Stone Gardens is still the only all-moss nursery in the entire United States. But David and Ken are on a mission to spread the word on the virtues of these unique plants and show how they are perfect for today’s more sustainable landscapes.
Moss can play many roles in the garden, from feature to filler to lawn.
Today, we learn some surprising facts about moss and see how it can be incorporated into almost any landscape, sun or shade.
We will also create a miniature moss garden for the tabletop and learn from Chef Nathan how to make a simple Shiitake Mushroom Omelet!
For more information:
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Hello from the Manistee National Forest, in Michigan.
25 years ago my husband made me a path in our oak and pine woods to walk on ,where he could see me-I have arthritis- and they began to ‘moss’ over. Three more loops have done the same. It’s magical, and he maintains it by simply raising the blade on the lawn mower, and blowing all the woods debris off and mowing down the Bracken Fern a couple of times a summer.
Moss has also taken over most of our yard, we mow maybe 3 times in summer. It’s pretty natural and not manicured, but so beautiful. We love our moss, and find it very healthful-I can now walk or bike out on the road with the rest of the neighbors. At 79, I’m doing ok.
We have snowy winters and dry summers-the moss simply goes dormant, and waits for the rains. Nothing else is needed, except grandkids running all over it on many weekends.
Is there a special rake for moss that is made from twigs? I read about it one time and I can remember the name for it.
Look for a child’s rake made of bamboo, that might work for you.
I live in western N Carolina. I’ve been enjoying moss as a retaining/moss hill.
Just lately decided I would stop mowing part of the upper hill. Pulling up all the weeds, so only the moss could grow. Now small weeds have come back. Is there a fertilizer, maybe acid based that would kill off these weeds? A few week ago I fertizied the moss hill with “acidified plant food”. In hopes the weeds wouldn’t like the more acid like soil????
In another part of the yard, where I have a moss garden very few weeds appear.
Thank you
L. Senger
There’s two comments immediately above looking for information on growing moss in sun and another about growing moss in heat.
The written introduction to this episode says it will show how moss can be grown in sun but I can’t see where it is presented.
Any help here?
The heat and sun conditions questions are actually at the bottom,.
Live in Adelaide Australia is there a particular species that would suit
Just loved the information on moss, will use this under pine trees. Very informative. Thank you so much.
If you want to learn more about moss gardening, appropriate species for shade and sun applications and where to buy LIVE mosses to create your own moss retreat, visit MountainMoss.com for lots of valuable info. We enjoy sharing our expertise and passion for mosses as preferred horticultural choices. We are pleased to announce that Timber Press, the world’s largest publisher of gardening books, will be publishing Mossin’ Annie’s new moss gardening book. It will be available on our Web site, local bookstores and through major distributors like Amazon in 2015. Go Green With Mosses!
I missed this show and would love to watch it but I can’t find the link. I love your show and have been watching online since the first season. I go back and watch my favorites (chickens & worms) over and over. Thanks for what you all do!
I have a moss garden and have seen many of the moss gardens in Kyoto, Japan. It is true they don’t require fertilizing or mowing but to imply they are maintenance free is absolutely false. They grow in the shade, which is typically under trees. Therefore they are constantly covered by leaves, pine needles, acorns, pine cones, twigs, branches, etc. I spend far more time maintaining my little 500 SF moss garden than it takes my wife to mow 15,000 SF of lawn. The gardens in Kyoto have armies of gardeners plucking the pine needles out of the moss and the gardens that you showed as examples in the show were so pristine it must have taken a similar army to clean them up.
Also, whenever I have planted moss the directions always advised to wet the soil and the back of the moss before placing it on the soil
Hi Jerri – We have the link fixed. You should be able to watch it now. Sorry about that!
~Theresa
Thanks I have watched the episode and loved it. I an encouraged to try putting some moss in my entry which is always in the shade and I have had trouble getting anything to grow there. Thanks again! Jerri
What a WONDERFUL segment! Living in the northeast now — we (and several) neighbors have been wanting to do some moss landscaping here. Thanks for all the info on how to do this! The landscapes yall show are so luxurious looking — good to know they’re secretly easy to keep.
I’ll be sending the link to this show to a lot of gardeners I know!
Really loved this video! Found it through your fb link! Thank you so much for sharing so much useful information. More detail about sun loving mosses would have been nice, but this is a super great starting place. Thanks again 😉
Thank you for this segment. I would love to have more specifics, like which kind of moss grows where and what is the highest HEAT tolerance for each moss. Can you grow it in Hot climates. Does it have acidity needs. Can you grow it under oak trees.
I’ve liked your page and sent a link to many friends. I’d love to see this option more in gardens. Thank you 😉