More Moss, Please
The Japanese have been true connoisseurs of moss for centuries. But in a recent conversation a fellow plant lover informed me that moss was her number one. I mean of ALL the plants, moss ruled her world. And that got me to thinking about moss… After all why would something so small be so high on the list of so many? There are hundreds of kinds of moss, of course, all with very different textures and hues, all verrrry velvety, and yet also sooo difficult to identify from one another. I remember, as little kids, my brother and I were always seeking out the mossy groves for building club houses. There is something quite refined about a plant that softens the seat so nicely… Thanks be, ’cause the sheer number of hues of green could make one dizzy! You might even call the color experience mesmerizing. But peel the color away and it’s still completely appealing.
When you look closely at moss, it’s almost a miniature version of the trees that it finds refuge under. On so many levels it’s the perfect essence of a forest. No wonder it’s also the favorite medium for building a terrarium. Urban dwellers are looking for that experience of a deep vibrant green, and moss is the source. It was also one of the first terrestrial plants; important in breaking down stone and turning sand into soil with it’s compost. So whether moss is in an ancient forest, a highly manicured garden, a terrarium, or on a wall as graffiti — it seems to impart a strong presence to the place it inhabits.
For a while now I’ve been planting moss in my garden designs to create a carpet affect and have also dabbled with mixing moss with yogurt (in a blender) and painting the mixture on rocks to fast forward the look of an aged rock. What’s the saying? “A rolling stone gathers no moss?” This would be like the stone goes into deep meditation and wakes up with dark green furry moss everywhere! It’s brilliant.
A while back, a close friend talked with me about designing a hanging moss wall. This is someone who doesn’t know much about plants but has a natural curiosity for trying new things and a real sense of design. And although we haven’t hit on quite the right medium for a hanging moss habitat, I still think about how incredibly vibrant something that soft and alive would be covering a wall in a living room. Waaaay better than just another shag rug… The real thing!
September 30th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Have you tried this!? (the buttermilk blender moss graffiti) I can’t tell you how many daydreams have been devoted to images in moss. Man, it’s an instant imagination jump start. I’d love to hear more about how it’s worked, or not, for you.
September 30th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Moss is my favorite. When I was little, our whole yard was in shade. My mother used to take me out into the woods with a little wagon or a wheelbarrow and we’d dig up moss and take it back to the yard and set it down. It was always such an amenable plant and would usually take root. By the time we moved away, the yard had gone from being a rocky, weedy space to being a soft, mossy patchwork of wild mossy greens that wound around all the plantings (many of which, like our lilies of the valley, were also stolen from secret spots in the woods).
October 4th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Farrar I wish I knew all the regions that moss grows in… a moss map… I think I’ve tended to imagine it as a plant of the rainshadows, which isn’t how I imagined some parts of the south. Cool to imagine that you have moss memories too! I think native gardens can have the most magic to them, because in stories like yours, you go out and gather what you like yourself. There’s something really life affirming to supporting and spreading little patches of what you find beautiful. Have you been sharing any of these good memories with the boys? It would be cool to see what you could grow where you are now.
October 5th, 2010 at 11:20 am
I’ve done the moss paint for a few clients and the results for those have been favorable. I could do a lil’ blog about it… Maybe experiment with a couple of mediums, brick, cement, hypertuffa, etc. an’ see what the moss takes to (since stone is a lil’ too strait forward me thinks *can’t wait*)!