Moss on trees....watering moss.....moss and ferns....moss and bonsai... Whether a moss will grow on a given tree depends on the moss and depends on the tree. Some mosses are very selective on what they will grow on. Grimmia, the moss that grows on rocks, I doubt will ever grow on a tree. Brachythecium the common branched spreading moss will often grow on anything. Next is whether the tree will allow the moss to grow. Some tropical trees I believe can discourage growth. George Schenk in his book Moss Gardening said to transplant moss from like surfaces to like surfaces. If a moss is growing on a tree it will probably transplant to growing on another tree. Watering moss oftentimes implies drenching the moss and thus flooding the substrate. On a cool morning with the dew on the ground look at some moss. That may be all the moisture the moss needs for that day and the next. I mist use hand misters or pump sprayers when I get the inclination to "water" the moss. Yet if you want to water the tree and not the moss just pour water in a few areas, or pull aside the moss and then later replace it, or immerse the pot in a saucer of water. In theory you could grow tropical moss on the soil surface in a planter with cactus. Aesthetically pleasing- no! But easily done. Misting daily for filmy moss with no drenching of the soil would work. Generally a slight misting for many common mosses every two to three days with no other moisture would suffice for most common mosses. Last summer I kept several species on grit or dirt in clay saucers on my enclosed back porch in south facing window. If I wanted good growth I misted daily but generally misting every two to three days was all I did. Fertilizing every two to three weeks one quarter strength acid fertilizer was given. I cannot use my municipal supply water so I use distilled or rain water. Works great. Moss and ferns are related and very compatible. If you choose to grow the filmy ferns and need a high humidity green house there are many filmy mosses that will do well there. Yet some arid mosses like Grimmia cannot tolerate extended periods of high humidity and that is understandable. Schenk mentions this and gives several examples in his book including the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. Moss and bonsai. Chapter eleven in Moss Gardening is titled "Bonsai Mosses". Schenk gives several species he recommends. What he doesn't do and what drives me is to answer the twin questions; A, how do you identify them and B, where can you find them. His bonsai pictures with moss are great but it is very difficult to identify a moss from a picture. Just as even the best seamstress would be hard pressed to identify different fabrics from pictures. I have said it before and I mention it again; some of the best and easiest bonsai mosses to acquire are the sidewalk mosses; Bryum caespiticium the deep green sidewalk moss and the other Bryum argenteum the silver sidewalk moss. Sunday my wife and I went to a large horticultural greenhouse operation. The owner and I have talked before. He said he gets requests for moss but can't fill them I said "Quit killing the moss you already have and it will grow wherever you want". He uses an algacide in his water. I went outside and returned with B. caespiticium and another Bryum I found on the west side of his greenhouse. I then led him to a common pathway inside his greenhouse at the edge of which was growing a 1/16" upright, very thick green moss that had a nap softer than velvet. I do not know the type of moss but I told him that he obviously is able to grow it. Look around in the environment that is compatible with the plants you want moss to grow with. Look carefully! Last Friday May 4th I spent the day in the field with my bryologist friend. Literally at the end of the day we went into untilled fields looking for moss growing among last year's corn or bean stubble. What we found was amazing. I am leaving next week for a six day bryology seminar. After that I will start posting pictures with more information. Rick

Hi Sangeeta, I am not sure if you got my email back saying I would bring you the campanula, lamium, forget-me-nots (blue and pink) and spiderwort. I think you might have your settings so that I can't email you back. If you get this in time :-) I would love your some of your: White Shasta Daisy Blue aster candy tuft english lavender munstead lavender If those are all spoken for or you don't get this message before you leave I can just get them at another trade, but I will still bring those you asked for. SEe you there, Susan

Depends on how sunny it is, how fast the underlying material drains and how frequently you need/wish to water. Both Irish and Scotch mosses like rich soil and plenty of water. Thyme likes it hot, lean and on the dry side. I am not very familiar with sun tolerant mosses although I'd suspect they'd be both hard to find and moisture lovers. Weeds will grow up through anything - you just need to be prepared to weed from time to time to keep things tidy. If using only the permeable sand then much easier to use some sort of herbicide to keep weeds in check.

Hi Kris, A lot depends on you zone. Here, in Rochester, NY we put in 2 small plants and in 3 years it is all over the back yard filling in the walkway cracks (rah!). Of course you are actually planting Scottish Moss (s s a), which is greatly different from Irish Moss: "Chondrus crispus, Irish Moss, Pearl Moss, or Carragheen is a red alga or seaweed plant of the Gigartinaceae/Rhodophyta order." Many people think they are the same and that the shade of green determins which is which. Not ture, Irish would be that green shade that looks red. Do a search on the Latin name above, there are some great pictures. David