Moss - as green as it gets

Moss, beloved by gardeners, landscapers, hikers and other geniuses for the visual and tactile pleasure it provides, gives us yet another reason to hold it in such high esteem.

As the movement continues to rid the environment — and especially suburban yards — of pesticides, herbicides and non-organic fertilizers and to conserve water, moss moves up several notches on the green scale as one of the most environmentally friendly plants on earth.  In addition to requiring no chemicals, it requires little to no watering and never requires mowing.

Low maintenance without spraying
One rarely spies a moss gardener with a hose or sprayer.  However, lawn care and some garden or bed care typically involves the (professional!)application of deadly (in the broadest sense 
of the word) pesticides, the spraying or sprinkling of herbicides, and the watering in of fertilizers.  All of this is accompanied by a periodic and thorough soaking with some type of chlorinated water. 

Moss, conversely, does not need any of this because it does not attract pests, rarely has any type of actual weed growing in it, and will grow and spread readily without encouragement from fertilizers.  And, because moss has no roots and takes its nutrients and moisture from its surroundings, it does not require watering or soaking, as does a lawn or garden with vascular plants.  Granted, most moss will not grow in full sun, but because it is so adaptable, it is common to find it at the edges of lawns in partly-shady areas, ready to spread as the shade tree above it grows.

Sequestering pollutants and other suspended particulates

Behind the scenes, moss acts as a bio-filter, and can sequester CO₂ and trap suspended particulates, especially in urban and suburban areas.
 

How green is moss? 

And that’s not all. As global warming  encroaches, and potable water becomes scarcer and more expensive, moss will survive as it has since emerging from the primordial swamp because it can dry out and go dormant for years. Alternatively, it can hold multiples of its weight in water.

Spread the word, not the chemicals!

"Gathering Moss" - a gift of many meanings for moss enthusiasts

The book, Gathering Moss, by Dr. Robin Kimmerer, is one of the most engaging, enchanting and educational books a moss lover or moss novice can read.  This is a book I did not want to end.  It made me feel I was learning some of the most technical details about mosses while being taken on journeys through enchanted woods, into sphagnum bogs, up to abandoned mining sites, down rivers, and into vasts forests.

Dr. Kimmerer received the John Burroughs Medal Award for this book, which was her first.  In it, she incorporates her experience as a plant ecologist and her understanding of traditional knowledge about nature.  She weaves botanical terms, lessons and delicate technical drawings of mosses into stories about her life, studies, work and passions.  She describes how mosses grow, reproduce and go dormant, all with a simple elegance that only mosses possess and in a writer's voice that is gentle and enthusiastic.

After reading the book I believed mosses could somehow save the world.  I doubt most readers will end the book with this belief, but they will end feeling enlightened and enriched...and ready to head to the woods.

Gathering Moss is an enthusiast favorite.  So is Dr. Kimmerer.