Mosses and Others

The Irish Moss that was growing in that circle was looking really nice and then last winter knocked it back really bad - I wasn’t even sure it would recover. Now you can see that it is coming back and doing ok even growing in the Creeping Thyme and I’m going to leave it alone. I have three other small patches that have shown up now so this is not the only one. It seems to cohabitate with the Thyme and the Thyme protects it from the cold and also perhaps from drying out too much. We’ll see how it does in the next few seasons as I’m not going to weed it out as it sure isn’t easy to do that and having a mutually supportive community of plants as a ground cover is exactly what I like to see if they can get along.

Irish Moss in Thyme - Oct 4 2023 (3999K)

Some young ferns starting to grow in the limestone mulch. Such an interesting pattern. Forgive the repeat, but I want to provide the link to the larger image if people want to look closer.

New Ferns - May 4 2019 (1437K)

It is hard to imagine that something as strange looking as this could create the frondy ferns or the tiny caps in the picture above. When they get dried out it looks just like bits of a leaf or even algae that has dried out. Get them wet again and they turn green and continue to grow until they are big enough to send up a stalk to fruit and give off more spores.

Really Ferns - Apr 15 2023 (4539K)

More developed young ferns.

Ferns - May 05 2023 (4168K)

A small plant of Irish Moss that I didn’t know what it was at first and thought it was a potentially invasive weed I did not want in the Creeping Thyme. I weeded it out in the spring of 2019. Later that summer it was regrowing again and I looked up what it was and figured out that perhaps I’d like to see how it worked out. I moved it to a new location where I can keep a closer eye on it. Since it survived the winter I will keep weeding the thyme from around it and see how it fills in on the edge of a compacted slope. We’ll see how it looks in a few years. A nearby small patch of Pink Creeping Phlox is having a pretty tough time, but perhaps a plant closer to the ground will be able to do better.

Irish Moss Start - Mar 15 2020 (2349K)

After a summer of growth it has done pretty well, but the surrounding creeping thyme is certainly giving it a challenge. I do have to keep weeding away (about once every few weeks) the creeping thyme to make sure the moss doesn’t get smothered. I do know it will survive if it is growing among the creeping thyme, but I do want to have some bare moss area as a contrasting texture and to see how it performs under direct light on that slope.

Irish Moss First Season - Sep 12 2020 (2868K)

A closer picture. I’m sure hoping all those seedlings sprouting are the creeping thyme as it would be nice to fill that area in faster.

Irish Moss Closer - Sep 12 2020 (3585K)

Those seedlings were weeds so no luck with that filling in faster with the Creeping Thyme. The original spot that was transplanted I’ve kept the Creeping Thyme from growing over it and it has filled in and grown, but not nearly as fast as the Creeping Thyme.

Irish Moss Two Years Later - Sep 17 2021 (3751K)

About a month ago I found two more spots of Irish Moss that were growing near where I found the previous spot. I moved them to fill in another bare spot further down on a slope. There are two bits of Irish Moss in this picture - one I’ve removed the Creeping Thyme and the other I’m leaving it alone mixed in because it seems to grow ok. We’ll see how they do. And of course I get a picture of a deer hoof - they wander through this garden almost every evening.

New Spots Moved - Oct 6 2021 (4225K)