#5: Moss II

I pulled the last little bit of green from around a clump of moss. I picked up the broom with clay-stained fingers and began to sweep the old leaves and debris away. There was a sense of satisfaction knowing that when the moss took hold and spread, another moss garden would be complete............

Moss I

I already had a small moss-garden next to the patio; the stuff in it has changed from time to time. It makes a pretty calm atmosphere in the afternoons, when the lizards run across and the beetles and snails come back from wherever they were during the heat of the day.

Back in spring, I was pondering the area in the back of the lot, where a Japanese Maple grew. This maple isn't the grafted, stunted sort you get at the nurseries.
 It was started as a seedling from a yard we had worked on in school, as a project. The owner had just bought the house, and told us that if we wanted the seedlings that grew, to dig them up and take them home as he didn't want them. I had several I had brought home; this was the one that had survived. When it outgrew the planter I had it in, I planted it in the ground in the back, and 7 years later it is probably a good 10 feet tall. It will be a normal sized tree, although not as gargantuan as some trees get. As I watched, the sun peeked around the clouds where it had been hiding most of the day, and I noted that, since the other trees around the area had also grown, the area was mostly shaded. This would explain why the wildflowers I had tried to grow, didn't fare so well (they like full sun) and why the weeds were seemingly taking over now.

I looked over at the moss garden. It occured to me that moss may do as well there, if not better. So I took up some moss from the yard (we have an excess of the stuff, the drainage in the back yard is horrible) and left little "polka dots" of moss behind the maple. And then I let it alone for a while.
The past couple of days have been removing the weeds that have come up in the meantime, and defining the edges. I need to gather more stones from the creek for the edging, and a few interesting ones for the moss to grow on. 

And then, all I will have to do is wait.....

Moss II, coming soon....

Aye,
Kraneia