Getting it off to a good start

If you have moss in your garden or close by, then you can grow moss on hypertufa pots, statues and rocks too. Wherever there is moss, there are spores – these are so tiny, and float in a breath of air.

growing moss600x900

All moss needs is some moisture and something to grab a hold of; they don’t need soil like most other plants, just a rough surface to cling to.

Hypertufa is the perfect choice of a place to grow moss, either allowing it to grow there naturally, or to actually place it there to grow.

There are basically two kinds of moss; Acrocarp and Pleurocarp. The Acrocarpous mosses are thicker and grow upright.

You may recognize these in the fall because of their flowers – tiny upright stems with capsules on top. They’re not really flowers, as these capsules have spores, not seeds.

fluted-hypertufa-bowl-with-moss600

Pleurocarpous mosses are more fern like and grow flat to the ground. The growing parts are on the ends of the fernlike leaves, and that’s how it enlarges.

acrocarpous-moss

There are many different genera and species that fit into either of these classes, depending on where you live.

There are mosses almost everywhere in the world, they’re not limited to just warm jungle like climates.

Some plants, like Spanish moss which hangs from giant old live oak trees in the southern US, are not moss at all. Spanish moss is actually Tillandsia, an epiphyte.

pleurocarpous-moss

Many are extremely drought tolerant, and can withstand some really tough conditions.

They have the ability to go dormant, and then bounce back as soon as the conditions are more to their liking.

See more ways to use moss on my Pinterest board;

Follow Drought Smart Plants’s board Moss on Pinterest.

Other ways I’ve grown moss is to put down old carpet, fuzzy side down, to kill weeds, then sprinkled the top with some sterilized potting soil.

After a while – several years in some cases, the top of the carpet will be covered in tiny moss plants.

thumb-miniature-moss-gardens-book-review

Miniature Moss Gardens – a book review