Why you want moss in the woodland or shade garden

One of my favourite places not far from my home is this beautiful woodland where moss covers limestone boulders, fallen logs and tree trunks. These natural settings are ideal to use as inspiration in your own garden.

Use nature to inspire a mossy area in the garden

There are few features in a garden better than a soft cushion of beautiful moss.

Its pillowy look and tapestry of shades of green adds to its textural qualities and lends a quiet, almost soothing feel to a woodland/shade garden.

Finding an area in the garden where you can grow moss is an opportunity to create a quiet little woodland retreat that is likely to become one of your favourite spots in the garden.

The above image of moss-covered boulders is an area near my current neighbourhood that I discovered years ago, long before we even moved to our current home. We actually lived miles away in a different city when I discovered this mini-forest. I’ll never forget being there when a deer walked by me and through the forest. And, on another day, when I came across a deer asleep in a mossy area of the forest.

You can see why It has become a place of inspiration for me and the garden I am trying to create just a mile or two away.

It’s not a particularly large area, but it feels big because of the glorious moss that covers the boulders, the fallen trees and the soil. It’s part of the inspiration that we all need to create our gardens. Take a moment to read my post about Using nature as inspiration for our garden.

We are lucky to have moss growing in several areas throughout our woodland/shade garden filling in almost every crack between our flagstones and cement pavers, growing in shady areas of the grass, on our limestone boulders and in areas of the garden where I choose to encourage it.

If anything, I need to encourage more of it.

Our DIY fire pit turned moss garden is an elegant addition to the garden and a good source of moss for othere areas in the garden.

Moss is also featured in our DIY fire pit turned moss garden that I have wrote about in the past, and remains one of my favourite art elements in the garden.

The moss in the former firepit is growing primarily on a charcoal base from burned wood and is an excellent source of moss for other parts of the garden.

If I decide to add some moss elsewhere in the garden – to top off a container planting, in the Japanese-inspired garden or between pavers – it’s simple enough to peel off a little from the moss garden to get the moss started. If I need more, I can take it from other areas of the garden in small sections and encourage further growth. It all grows back quickly because it is happy where it grows.

It should comes as no surprise that moss is certainly one of my favourite features in the garden.

I know many “gardeners” do everything they can to keep moss out of their gardens and especially out of their grass. These gardeners are not only trying to fight Mother Nature, but missing out on the beauty of moss underfoot and its ability to create an aged patina that is difficult to obtain any other way.

Moss forms the background in our Japanese-inspired garden where these delicate epimediums add a spot of colour in early spring.

In our garden, nothing would make me happier than to remove what little grass we have in our backyard and replace it with a large expanse of pillowy moss. Unfortunately, at least for now, most of our small grassy area is in a very sunny location and I doubt moss would grow well there.

Growing moss in a hot sunny area

In a hot, sunny area you are unlikely to have much success growing moss. In this case, use a moss alternative like Irish or Scotch moss (link to my earlier post) which are actually perennial plants that look like moss but do well in sunnier areas.

You should get away with an area that gets morning sun if you are willing to keep the moss moist by gently misting it on an almost daily basis. Also, be sure to keep it as free of debris as possible for best results.

It’s important to understand that moss can dry out and turn crispy brown and still be alive.

If you see moss that appears dried out, give it a good misting and it should bounce back. Also, if the moss dries up and begins to curl up, ensure that the moss is pressed down on the surface where it is growing, whether it’s on the ground, a concrete planter or between flagstones. Simply press it down firmly onto its growing surface until it catches and stays put on its own.

Water moss with misting or gentle rain setting

One of the modern hose nozzles that includes a misting setting is a great asset if you are growing moss. Try to refrain with hitting the moss with a strong stream of water from the hose.

The mist setting or the gentle rain setting are ideal ones to keep your moss looking its best.

Under the right conditions, moss is not difficult to grow.

How to grow moss in the garden

Mosses are not your normal garden plants. Their unusual classification as bryophytes can create problems for gardeners who want to treat moss like a normal garden plant.

Moss – and there are up to 25,000 different species – are non-vascular plants, meaning they lack most of traditional parts of a typical garden plant. Most importantly, moss lacks roots that traditionally give our plants stability along with a highway to move the nutrients they need to survive up into the plants, shrubs and trees.

Instead of roots, mosses have rhizoids, which are small hairlike structures. Their main function, much like roots, is to anchor the plant to a surface whether it’s soil, rock, tree bark, concrete…. 

Many mosses will suck nutrients up through the rhizoids and others draw in moisture and minerals from rain and the water around them through the moss’s highly absorbent surfaces.

Moss specializes in finding other ways to absorb water and nutrients. As a result the moss family are often found in shady, damp areas whether they are grow directly on the ground, on rocks, garden furniture or cement structures.

If you want to grow moss on the ground on top of the soil, it’s best to have slightly acidic soil that is fairly compacted with good drainage.

We are blessed with a sandy soil that seems perfectly suited to growing moss, but it also grows readily on screenings that we use between our flagstones.

Growing moss in the garden

There are plenty of recipes on the internet – including on this site here – on how to create moss on, for example, statuary and clay or cement planters.

By combining some existing moss in a slew with buttermilk and maybe some beer, and then painting this brew on to your statuary or planters, placing them in a shaded damp area and gently misting them regularly, you should be able to grow some moss on the garden elements.

It doesn’t always work as planned but, with a little experimentation, you should be able to grow your own glorious moss and begin to create a special place in your garden.