I love moss.
I love it in all of it's vibrant, green, touchable glory.
Acrocarpous, pleurocarpous, I love them all.
Sadly, none of these pictures came from the gardens of the Red House. After we had to cut down our big oaks, we don't get very much shade anymore. We instead receive a lot of hot, direct North Carolina sun, the nemesis of most mosses (though I've heard rumors of sun-tolerant mosses out there..) These pictures are from the shaded woodland oasis of an artist's garden in New Jersey.
That is not to say that we don't have moss in North Carolina. Moss & Stone Gardens is a moss nursery and landscape design business that opened up in 2002 in Raleigh. If you want to see some of the most beautiful pictures of both landscape and container designs using moss, check them out. Sadly, their moss gardens are not yet open to the public, but they are still a good source of information about these ancient, rootless plants.
At some point I want to put some sort of moss feature in my little shade garden. For right now, though, I think I'll sit and just enjoy me some beautiful moss here in the garden state..
Today is Mosaic Monday!
