Just mossin*, really

 

Orchis mascula, the early purple orchid


Well, what a summer! A real summer at last, which left most things in the garden gasping for rain, which finally came, only to be followed by another long drought.

The one part of the garden which seemed not to care too much what kind of weather we were having was the lawn. The back lawn anyway. And that’s because it consists of inches of moss.

Conditioned as I was to expect a traditional English greensward when we bought our house in Devon six years ago I’d lost no time in calling out the experts to see how they would tackle the problem. They nodded wisely when I showed them our green expanse - which actually looks quite convincing especially with the stripes left after mowing.

But those footprints that we left in the deep pile of what was supposed to be a lawn was clear evidence, they told me, that there was probably not a single blade of grass in the whole thing. The only solution would be to have it all re-turfed, followed by a regular dosing of special chemicals that only their firm could supply as they were officially  licensed to stock weed- and moss-killing products that were unavailable in garden centres.

 

That was their story anyway.

 

 

 

Moss lawns are still a rarity in England. Moss killing rather than moss growing is what British gardeners do. You can smell the iron sulphate as you walk past gardens in the spring when most lawns get their annual sprinkling of moss-killer.

 

 

 

 

 

Annie Martin, aka Mossin' Annie with some of her good friends

Image credit: http://mountainmoss.com/

But in other parts of the world they are prized. Japan for example. And among moss enthusiasts in the USA, thanks to Google and the amazing internet, I ended up taking a visual stroll through Mossin' Annie's moss garden in Pisgah Forest, NC via http://mountainmoss.com/

NC? A Budleigh connection there surely, what with Sir Walter Raleigh’s attempted late 16th century colony on Roanoke Island in the state of North Carolina?  The American state has even named its capital after him. 

 

 

 

The capital even has an upmarket district called Hayes Barton which surely must have been named after Raleigh’s birthplace in East Budleigh just a few miles north of us, pictured below.

 

So the omens for keeping my moss lawn were good. 

Over the years I followed Mossin’ Annie’s progress. She gave me good advice. Don’t despair if your moss turns yellow: think of it as daffodils making a spring appearance. And above all don’t use weedkiller.

In 2008 I told her that we’d had the wettest August for 60+ years “and the moss loves it.”

The stuff even flourishes around East Budleigh and was used as a wartime dressing for wounds during the Great War of 1914-18 as I discovered from  the excellent Ovapedia website devoted to life in our little corner of Devon known as the Lower Otter Valley. 

“As the war continued East Budleigh became involved in a little known part of the war effort,” writes Vivienne Brenan in her absorbing history of East Budleigh.  “The Army Medical Services needed a great quantity of sphagnum moss, whose softness and absorbency made it excellent for wound dressings.  This moss was collected on Woodbury Common by the men and boys, dried in the baker's oven and then taken up to Oakhill House.  There in a room which became known as the Moss Room, the women sorted the moss and sewed it into little square bags to make the dressings.  http://www.ovapedia.org.uk

See also http://www.hotnewsgator.com/wetlands-vital-role-in-conflict-46483-2013/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HRH Prince Charles

Image credit: Dan Marsh

 

Six years on and the vogue for moss lawns continues to grow, albeit slowly in Britain.  One day we might even see one at Buckingham Palace. The heir to the throne, pictured above, was inspired to grow one at Highgrove, his Gloucestershire home, thanks to green-thinking people like Dame Miriam Rothschild. I’ve written about her elsewhere on this blog.

 

Click on http://budleighbrewsterunited.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/natural-associations.html if you’re interested.

My own moss lawn is thicker and softer than ever. And this year on 27 June something rather magical happened. 

 

An unexpected dash of pale mauve suddenly made its appearance. It was Orchis mascula, the early purple orchid.  The absence of chemical weedkillers in the garden and my failure to mow regularly had obviously had something to do with it.  It now has a protective fence around it after I’d seen a similarly prized specimen at Knightshayes, the National Trust property http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/knightshayes/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annie Martin

Image credit: Sara Boggs

 

As for Mossin’ Annie, she’s busier than ever in her Mossery - over 4000 sq ft in production now. And she’s just submitted the first chapter of her moss gardening book to her publisher, the highly respected Timber Press http://www.timberpress.com/

Now she’s looking for photos to illustrate it. I recommended the spectacular work of East Devon photographer Adrian Oakes, having been struck by his mossy scenes in for example Wistmans Wood on Dartmoor http://www.adrianoakes.com/section246405_391690.html#photos_id=11299640 where, as he says, “the moss in this wood has to be seen to be believed.”

Annie is really seeking photos of gardens, but just imagine being inspired and able to create a scene like that in your own backyard.

My own moss lawn is not particularly photogenic and certainly can’t compare with the spectacular Wistmans Wood . Still too many of those pretty little yellow and even orange sort of dandelions. But I might just send Annie that photo of the wild orchid of which I’m so proud and which is proof of the kind of treasure you might find in a moss lawn.

And if anyone out there does have photos of a genuine moss garden that you think might interest Annie she’d be delighted to hear from you at mossinannie@gmail.com

* http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mossin

To be chilling, doing nothing, just like moss, the commonly known fungus that just chills out on rocks.