I'm an avid moss-lover, so I'm glad to see the small but growing movement toward replacing lawn grass with moss. Humble, sensuous, ancient, and weirdly postmodern—moss is a truly underrated pleasure (a victim of biobigotry?). It's about time it got its due.The New York Times (whose headquarters now includes an open-air birch-and-moss garden) has an article today about moss gardening. The piece touches upon the ecological benefits of skipping the water-intensive lawn and going with the Buddhist-like serenity of the less-thirsty, no-mow bed of moss.
Gazing at moss in all its intricacy and greenitude evokes a soft, pristine mental state that even the prettiest lawn can't approach. To learn more about moss gardens, check out these resources:
Mossy Acres
Saiho-ji Zen Garden
Moss Gardening—a great book by George Schenk that I've spent many hours happily exploring.
Whatever you do, don't miss this cool how-to site on moss graffiti.
You may also like the moss art of Brooklyn-based Edina Tokodi, as featured on the wonderful Inhabitant blog.
My backyard is all moss and I love the softness of the green. Sometimes as the summer goes on, grass pops up here or there, but mostly it's moss. I love the moss graffiti site - Gerry, where in the world do you find all of this wonderful stuff? I LOVE your posts.
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