How to decorate a garden with moss and lichen

01-06-2018
Tips and ideas

39-How to decorate a garden with moss
Not many representatives of the flora are distinguished by such contradictory attitudes as mosses and lichens. Someone mercilessly struggling with them, considering them weeds-invaders for settling in the trees, they unwittingly destroy them, do not tolerate competition on the lawn. Buddhist monks surrounded themselves with these evergreens thousands of years ago. Much later in Japan, the first gardens of mosses appeared, where more than a hundred species of mosses and lichens of various shades grow. They also serve as decoration of gardens and parks of London, Rome. In the United States, in Park Do Ran, moss is specially bred for decorative purposes. What are these plants? Is it possible to grow them and create with their help garden and park compositions in our conditions?

Mosses and lichens, their cultivation

Mistakenly mosses are often called, resembling them, velvety plants. In fact, mosses (bryophytes) are small spore-like creeping or erect plants living in abundantly wetted places, on trees, stones.

Almost two tens of thousands of plant varieties delight the eye with an abundance of shades - from almost white to rich green.

39-How to decorate a garden with moss

Landscape design benefits from the advantages of this plant, such as:

  • unpretentiousness
  • ability to absorb moisture well
  • decorativeness
  • a variety of crown shapes and others.

Moss serves as an indicator of favorable ecology in the place where it appears. Choosing natural conditions, it never grows, for example, on plastic. Plants delight with their multi-colored, and most often - bright green twigs almost all year round. You can read the material about the original ideas for the garden.

We also recommend to read: How to decorate a tree stump in the garden with your own hands. Drawings on the stones for the garden. Registration of the house on the garden plot. How to make a house with your own hands

Lichen is a phenomenal symbiosis of the fungus and algae, where the fungus provides water and nutrition (like roots), and the algae act as leaves, producing chlorophyll and responsible for the breathing of this natural complex. These moisture-loving and very light-loving plants grow slowly, but live, sometimes for thousands of years. They differ in a variety of colors: pink, white, gray, green. Plants can not release absorbed toxins, therefore, with unfavorable ecology die.

For decorative purposes, use three varieties of these natural phenomena:

  • scale - similar to spraying,
  • leafy - resembling a leaf,
  • bushy - fluffy, in the form of a bush.

39-How to decorate a garden with moss

For breeding mosses and lichens in the garden plot, you can use ready-made plants, bringing them from the forest or by buying them in a store.

It is worth using the following recommendations:

  • ask the seller a place to collect plants. It is very important that the conditions of their previous habitat be close to the environment in your garden;
  • in coniferous forests, select specimens growing on the ground, if you wish to transplant them into trees or stones, it is better to look for those that also grow in this way;
  • in the city, go in search of exotics in old parks with their wet walls, ancient trees, abandoned fountains or ponds;
  • plant moss in shady areas, where the sun is only in the early morning, under trees with an open crown, it is better to choose the northern and western parts of the garden with acidified soil;
  • the lichen perishes from a lack of light, the heat does not care for him, if only there is enough moisture;
  • plants prepared for planting should be abundantly moistened, a little place to plant the planting ground with soil brought from the forest, loosening and watering it;
  • when planting, they need to be compacted, you can lightly walk along a strip of moss with a roller, on the slope it is necessary to strengthen the planting with nails or chopsticks;
  • Do not forget about the increased watering of transplanted copies;
  • It is better to plant lichens of various colors between mosses, selecting small bushes for close proximity to them; you can also use lightly sprinkled branches for this purpose.

39-How to decorate a garden with moss

Mosses in the gardens of the world (video)

Registration of a garden site

To decorate your site compositions with the participation of the above-mentioned exotics, there are several ways. You can clear the shaded area on the stones, curbs, and others, richly wetting them at the same time, hoping that the wind will carry the spores of plants on these places. But it is better to speed up the process by brushing a talker of kaolin, fertilizer and moss elements mixed and diluted with water on stones, wood, and ceramic products, without forgetting about the constant watering of your "art". You can read the material on how to decorate stumps and cuts at the cottage.

39-How to decorate a garden with moss

There are other recipes for the mixture, such as: a glass of homemade kefir or yogurt diluted with a glass of water is mixed with fragments of moss. Then use the brush to draw the desired shapes on the surfaces to be decorated with the resulting liquid.

39-How to decorate a garden with moss

To create landscape compositions, dachadecor.ru recommends using such original ideas:

  • To create an imitation of ancient ruins, you can stick a strip of moss on the stones, like a wall, arranged in a chaotic manner. It is important that the glue was made from flour talkers, without impurities of synthetics. In this case, care should be taken to protect the structure from drying out, for the time being it is better to cover it with a film, carefully crushing it, opening it only for the time it is watered. In a similar way, it is possible to age the flowerpots, sculptures, fountains.
  • The gray stones brought from the forest by ferns, violets, strawberries, oats and others look good and natural against the background of mosses and lichens.
  • With the help of moss, you can even create a semblance of paintings, whimsically and chaotically planting material scraps of various configurations and shades, mixed with stones, lichens, and low colorful flowers.
  • The roofs of various buildings will look very picturesque if you put moss and lichen on them, and the first one can be hung down with beards for an additional effect. In such a house in the heat will be a pleasant coolness.
  • On the walls or fences, you can create graffiti from the nutrient mixture with the addition of moss of different colors, causing drawings or inscriptions with a brush.
  • As you can see, moss and lichen can be successfully used in the creation of landscape scenery. It is good to collect ready-made plants in the forest, park, or buy in a special store.

    39-How to decorate a garden with moss

    And you can grow material for creativity on their own. It is important not to forget about regular watering of plants.

    The conditions and place of landing for them are also very important. Indeed, without light, lichen dies, and moss does not like open areas. Although you can’t call them too capricious, but if you take care of plants, taking into account all the features of their growth, the effect of this will exceed all expectations. Your imagination, diligence and these wonderful plants will create unique and exquisite works that delight you with fresh greenery all year round.