Is moss the next big gardening trend?

Some garden experts say interest in moss is on the rise here, but that for most gardeners it’s being used on a much smaller scale than in Dale Sievert’s gardens.

Mark Dwyer, director of horticulture at Rotary Gardens in Janesville, where Sievert built two moss gardens, said “the fact that we are now being recruited to give multiple talks every year on fern and moss gardening gives testimony to the fact that moss gardening is on the rise. That didn’t happen 20 year ago,” he said.

Another indicator is that “a good size chunk of our garden space at Rotary Gardens is dedicated to moss.”

Dwyer said that in most cases the conversation starts when gardeners tell him they have moss in their yards so they can’t grow anything.

“I’ll say to them ‘if your yard is conducive to growing moss, that may be the angle you want to take.’ Then, sometimes I’ll show them photos of Sievert’s gardens and say ‘you can do this,’ although what Sievert does is more than the average homeowner would do.”

Dwyer said that in most cases, gardeners in the Midwest who are interested in adding moss to their gardens can find it in their own yards.

“Then it’s just a matter of transplanting and encouraging it. In this climate, it’s not something we have to buy.”

Dwyer said he added moss to his own gardens as a ground cover in shady areas. “You can make little patches of moss and put it in containers. Start small, it's addictive.”

Kara Kading, manager at Milaeger’s garden center, said she isn’t seeing customers buying chunks of moss to start gardens, but she is seeing them buying small pots of moss to use in miniature gardens and fairy gardens.

Some are also buying 5-inch pots of moss that the store sells.

“You could leave the moss in the pot or divide it and plant it in the ground,” she said. “If you plant it, it gets thicker and it spreads like a groundcover.”

Annie Rissell, a master gardener who works at Monches Farms, said they only see moss at their garden center when it’s paired with topiaries.

“We have one variety that comes with the topiary in little terra cotta pots,” she said. “Sometimes people will buy them and set them in a shady window or bathroom. We sold out of them right away” this year, she said.

Rissell said she also has moss growing in her yard and that it’s great to use to make a “brown and green” natural tablescape for Thanksgiving.

“You put plastic down on your table and cover an area with moss. Then you can put a basket with some kind of plant in it and drop clusters of acorns around it. You can go right out into your yard and get the moss,” she said.

—Joanne Kempinger Demski