Moss Gardening Is Eco-Friendly As more people become increasingly eco- conscious, the appreciation for moss gardening has grown. Annie attributes this to “the environmental advantages of mosses” acting as “essential elements in a healthy ecosystem.” Annie explains that mosses “support microscopic critters and all kinds of insects, birds, and other critters on up the food chain. Even pollinators will come and rest in the mosses to gather moisture and take it back to the nest like honeybees.” Mosses are also carbon-friendly. According to Annie, the biggest ecological benefit mosses offer is that they “sequester more carbon than all of the forests in the world put together.” In fact, Annie points out that “twice as much carbon sequestration occurs in the sphagnum peatlands,” which are found in the Northern Hemisphere, specifically Europe, North America, and Russia. It is worth noting that over one-third of the world's peatlands are found in Canada. In all, Annie explains, “the Sphagnum moss peatlands cover 2-3% of the world's land mass.”
Mosses Thrive in Sun and in Shade While people tend to believe that mosses grow best in shade, Annie points out “that's not necessarily the case.” Some varieties of moss prefer direct sun while other species “are so versatile they can live in the shade or they can live in the sun, depending on whatever exposure and microhabitat they're located in.” Annie explains that when planning your moss garden, “you're not restricted to just shade, and you don't have to have good soil.” As mentioned earlier, mosses do not have roots. Annie emphasizes that since, “Mosses derive their nutrients through their leaves, which do not have a cuticle (a waxy substance covering the leaf).” This means that when moss is hydrated either by rain or watering from a sprinkler system, the water is “immediately absorbed into typically a one-cell layer thick leaf.” In other words, moss hydrates very quickly. Moss is also a distinctive plant because some types grow vertically while others grow in a horizontal pattern. This distinction is an important one, Annie states, “because of most gardeners' expectations of seeing horizontal expansion.” But upright moss can be a great choice. Annie points out that “upright growing colonies or mounds will not only add more depth and dimension to a garden, but they will also get bigger in terms of their shape.” As to how fast the moss can be expected to grow, this “depends on the conditions and the amount of moisture that it receives during the entire year's growing season because mosses never stop growing; they don't go dormant.” Moss naturally spreads to new areas via the spore distribution which is just one of the ways mosses are reproduced.
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