Moss?

I looked for a Moss forum and didn't see one. But, we're trying to turn our front yard into only moss because of the full shade, (unable to keep grass). Would anyone have an idea on type of moss for that? We like the emerald green look.
Thanks, Will

Try looking at the Moss Acres website for info. They have the most comprehensive info that I've found on-line: http://mossacres.com/

Ok, thanks fernfarmer.

We have a fair bit of moss on our shady beds -- but I wish we didn't! I'd be happy to give it to you....

Wow happy, we'd love to have some of that moss. Is there any way you could post a pic of it?
I just asked my friend here and she said we could go $20 for postage if it's similar to what she's looking for. We know there's no guarantee or anything, our climes are different and stuff, but we'd try it.
Thanks, Will

Honestly, I was just joking. I can't imagine it would travel safely. And I think I've scraped most of it off. I'm sure it will grow back very quickly though. If you are really serious, I'll let you know when my potential harvest is good, but I have no idea how to mail it so it would arrive safely.

Try Soleirolia Soleirolii, Irish moss. It looks beautiful and you can walk over it.

It is lovely. My personal experience with it is that it is hard to keep alive, but that might just be me and my yard.

Irish Moss eh? Thanks cristina. I have a couple plants of it in pots and it is growing so it may be suitable here for that. I may do that deal on Ebay - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Irish-moss-Sagina-subulata-6000-seeds-/221421842528?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_210&hash=item338dc53060
A front yard of Irish Moss would be very cool. Here is my 2 planters with it in it. Today, you can tell it has grown alot.
Thanks again, Will

I feel it would do the trick! and it does look a beauty!

I did not know that you could buy seeds. Over here you just walk outside the town and find it growing on the grown in shady spot. Take a garden little shovel and a plastic bag and take some, get back home and positioned where you wanted to grow, water it and that is.

Shortleaf this is so funny. About a week before your thread I spent about an hour with a fertilizer spreader spreading $30 worth of Moss Killer all over my lawn! Then I used a scraper to get it off my brick walkway so people will not trip on the lumps! I also need to hire a pro to de-mossify my roof (yes, moss removal can be a profession here). I am thinking once my little trees/shrubs grow in the back yard I will kill the grass and let it be mossy. It should be easy here.

That IS funny! It sounds like quite a problem for you mlm. Is it slick and dangerous to walk on?
The front yard here is all shade because of 2 big Pin Oaks in a smallish front yard.

You don't get Irish Moss that way do you cristina? I thought I read somewhere that Irish Moss isn't really moss. It looks nice though whatever it is, it even kinda looks like grass. I have a friend that went to Chile and was an english second language teacher for about a year, her name is Nancy.

I love moss and I've been cultivating it for only a few years. I also have some scotch moss which I've shown in the first pic. It suffers if the drainage is not good and sometimes mid summer it struggles here in GA. It's looking as good as ever right now. The other pics show three areas I've been encouraging moss. As is often the case, the pictures don't look as impressive as my imagination enhanced real life views.

Yes shortleaf, the one I was talking about is Soleirolia Soleirolii, also known as Irish moss, and it is not really a moss. It is known by few names:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soleirolia

In Chile, it grows very well and it is commonly known as "cama de novia" = bride's bed because it looks as a very delicate, soft looking plant but it is sturdy and you can walk over it without slide/ slip over.

Over here, everyone wants to speak English, there are many tourist that come in from USA, they do like the country and extend their holidays paying their stay working as english teachers, it works quite well, they always find students. I know a guy, Thomas that has been crossing Chile from North to South since July 2011.

Wow bean, that looks great! That took some work and patience there but boy has it paid off.
That's very similar to what we want..lol Can we have your yard?! Is any of that Irish Moss?
In your experience, what is the best and easiest moss to grow in a yard in full shade, bean?!

Hi cristina, it might grow better there than here I don't know. I bet we have a much longer Winter.
I bet your in Winter right now and it isn't even that cold is it? That's a good point though, not slippery, "bride's bed", I like that name too! Everybody there wants to know English huh? I wish I knew Spanish! The ESL teachers probably know spanish fairly good.

Here's a pot with Irish Moss in the top, you can tell it has grown a little in the last 5 weeks.
Will

I wasn't very clear about that first pic. The brighter colored (chartreuse?) groundcover is called Scotch Moss. It's the same plant, I believe, as Irish Moss, only a brighter color. Sometimes a more green sprig appears and I pull it. The larger area is Blue Mazus, which is much more aggresive but certainly makes a nice mat. It's covered with blue flowers in the Spring. You may be able to notice the blue from the Mazus in the second pic. It's closer to the house.

The plant most noticeable in the pics is Moss Phlox, Phlox subulata. I have been letting it take a larger and larger share of the yard.

Shortleaf- the moss is not any more slippery than grass, it is just that it gets lumpy on the brick walk so it will trip you.

Bean- I like the look in your yard, I think eventually something like that is my goal. Mowing in Seattle is a nightmare-The grass grows 11 months of the year, and is only dry and brown for about a month in the summer. Lawnmowing instructions always say to mow when the grass is dry so the mower won't get clogged, but if we waited it would never be mowed (maybe a hayrake?). I tried mazus here-it never looked great, and suffered in our droughty summers and eventually died. Moss phlox is better-Yours is great.

Christina- I just looked it up-Chile is skinny, but is as long as the distance from San Francisco to New York. What an adventure to walk it, and the plants must change in an amazing way.

Will, that moss is really growing, for sure it is on the ground will continue expanding lovely and quickly, I do have some of that type too but I do not allow to grow, my space is restrictive.

back40bean's, I love your ground cover the blue mazus, first time I see it, very nice!

mlmlakestevens, Yes Chile is long and thin but full and the varieties of flora is incredible. it has tropica weatherl up north, then the driest desert in the world, then the weather goes from zone 11 to 1 in the very south, so the flora change from north to south. I use to trade seeds in DG's until USA custom confiscate them all and that was it!. With the change in the weather, since the late nineties every now and then it has rain in that dessert and the most beautiful flowers has appeared, do a google: Chile's flowering desert, amazing photos.

That moss phlox pic around the mailbox is nice, bean. What's your secret to getting the mosses and Phlox to spread so good? It's okay to say you water everyday, is that it?! Is that the blue mazus in the fourth pic up there, bean? Does it thrive in full shade? Sorry about all the questions, we'd really like to succeed with something in the front yard, in full shade besides dirt..lol! I Binged chile flowering desert and how pretty! I'd link to that but I don't how on a Kindle. Sorry it's taken so long to reply but I'm in a motel room on a Kindle, I'm on a road trip. This post has taken about 2 hours, I'm a total newbie on this. Hehe..I don't want to slip and fall mlm, I'm too old! Lol
Will

I think the moss phlox will need too much sun for your shady yard, shortleaf. Sorry for the misdirect. There are shade tolerant, even shade loving phloxes, but not making as lush a carpet as the moss phlox. Here are some pics of shady areas. The first shows moss that volunteered and which I have cultivated and watered. The second pic is a view just beyond the first pic and shows golden creeping jenny and blue star creeper. The creeping jenny is aggressive and, as the moss spreads, I pull the creeping jenny away. The blue star creeper is less aggressive for me than the creeping jenny and I like it, although I will be happy if the whole area is moss.
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Moss takes some tending. I pull weeds and I water, but I really love it. The fourth pic is a sunnier spot but the moss volunteered and I cultivated it. You may also see some creeping thyme in the lower left part of the pic. Thyme works well for me but might need more sun than you have.

The fourth pic is just moss growing between flagstones. I rescued moss from a nearby property that was about to be developed and planted it there. I hope this helps.

Oh, I never thought the Moss Phlox would be suitable here in the shade.

I attribute my rose vine in the backyard to all the sun. It doesn't get anything else and it's blooming like crazy right now! I'll post a photo of it.
That white one across from it is way outnumbered on roses (about 200 to 2..lol), the white one died back to the ground this year. I'll post a pic of it yesterday. - pic #1

Kudos to you on all that Creeping Jenny, Blue Star Creeper and all the moss, that is some tending alright. That's probably why it's so successful. We have a little Gold Creeping Jenny out in the yard now but it doesn't get thick or spread much, actually, I think it's dying. I think you nailed it though, it's staying on top of watering, weeding and managing it with other stuff. You kinda opened my eyes about some stuff that I need to pay more attention too. I'll get a photo of the yard tomorrow and you'll see all the shade. Man, your layouts look awesome! I've got a mold to make "rocks" out of concrete, I've had it for 7 years and never used it. Boy, have I ever got the ideas now!

Did you buy many of the Creeping Jenny plants or has it spread that much?

I see you like rocks too. I bet I've gotten about 3 tons of Limestone rocks over the last few years.

Here's a photo of my Hall's Honeysuckle vine. pic #2 Needless to say, I've been a little more successful in the backyard where the sun is! lol

those photos are nice, all those plants looks so healthy and the rose looks so very well with so many flowers. The magic of Spring, I'd say.
Down south here we are having a very wet, cold and miserable winter.

Thanks cristina. That sounds like our Winter but ALOT colder (-10 F or -23 Celsius) here. I took some photos yesterday of the SHADY front yard here. - In that last photo you can see some rocks, I LIKE the rocks! Beyond that last photo is also the front yard, it is very shady, all day long. It looks a little dappled in spots but those spots soon return to shade all day believe you me. The plants that are there love the shade, some Hostas, Ferns and even a bunch of English Ivy. I photographed the bases of the Pin Oak trees, (I think I got them both), they're about the same size trees in a smallish front yard and LOTS of shade, no grass. I've put down some mulch but I'd rather have big rocks and moss. I'm going to our Central Midwest Forum Davesgarden Roundup tomorrow, in Sedalia, Missouri at Liberty Park if anyone wants to come (it's around noonish to 4 or 5).
Will

We love moss ~ willing to pay postage for a tall standing medium flat rate box full!
Sheets/large pieces of moist/wet moss can be placed in a plastic bag and tied tight.

Send us a Dmail if you have extra moss available for postage or a trade.

Sorry - at this moment I don't have the time to pack it up!

Please let us know when you do have some available.
We will be anxiously waiting. :-)

Still awaiting for details on shipping moss....willing to pay for shipping...

Sorry - I think you're going to have to count me out.

A friend had so much moss a and so little grass that she decided to have a moss garden. The soil here is so depleted and acidic that it's perfect for moss. After clearing the area of vegetation, she took the moss and some water and put it in the blender, then sprinkled the 'moss soup' over her target area. I think I remember that buttermilk can be added to the mix for acidity.

It was doing well--until the condo association in turn cleared the area and planted grass!

I did the buttermilk moss mixture a few years ago - a pretty entertaining afternoon.
My wife wasn't thrilled to discover me appropriating the blender, but I think she's gotten over it.
You can find various recipes on line.
I must say I am not sure my moss 'shake' was a very successful adventure.
My patches of moss have pretty much developed on their own where conditions are right.
But it was a fun endeavor nonetheless.

I've tried the mixing method with poor results. My best success has been with transplanting. I have also been conscientious about tending it the past few years and the results are good. I also read recently that mosses fall into one of two groups. One group, which includes pin cushion mosses grow in more of an upright way and spread more slowly. The other group, which includes fern mosses grows in a more lateral way and spread more quickly. It may be good to start with the spreading mosses first and to fill in with others.

Another thing I found interesting is that in order to grow mosses need light moisture and temps above 20F. OK, the interesting part is that, lacking a vascular system, they cannot store moisture or nutrients meaning moisture they receive at night cannot be used unless (I presume) it sticks around till the sun comes up.

I love moss and encourage it instead of grass. I have been slowly trying to switch out my grass for either thyme or moss or some sort of ground cover.. Moss can be slippery over concrete surfaces, but not on dirt surfaces.

Just so you guys can see the comparison between the different groundcovers..

Photo #1: thyme area on the left of walkway versus grass on the right and lower area. Thyme keeps it's color during drought, you don't have to mow or water it, it has a wonderful scent, and it flowers! Grass is a water hog, looks bad during drought, and you have to mow all the time.

#2: Moss groundcover in shade area next to thyme. Maintains color, no mowing (just scissor back if it goes on pavers). It also flowers.

#3: thyme section (which is over crocus and other spring bulbs, it helps keep the squirrels from digging them up!!).

#4. Moss area. I used to have grass here, which grew fine, but I hated mowing the tiny strip. Moss is so much easier here, and looks great.

#5: Moss area where grass won't grow and where the pavers make it impossible to mow or too time consuming to use weedwacker.

I didn't see directions for mossifying--take some moss and some buttermilk, put in blender, dilute, spread on area desired. I had a friend do that successfully.

Blue spruce sedum grows in my moss, I wonder if it would in yours? Depends probably how thick the moss is. The sedum looks like a small pine that you can walk on. Prefer it to just moss.