One of the current trends displaying small plants in Japan is to do so without using containers .Their roots and soil are covered with moss.
These are moss-balls of a hosta and a Japanese blood grass.
Ever seen moss- balls?
Now that is cool! How is it done?
Oh my! Tomtom, you never cease to amaze us. Tell me about this method. They are so simple & elegant. What a neat gift those would make.
To do it is easy and simple,Liz.
1)Remove the soil off the plant,taking care that you won't damage the roots.
2) Cover the roots with the soil which retains water well and make a ball.
3)Place moss you can find aroud all over the ball.
4)Tie up the moss-ball with dark,preferably green or black cotton threads so it may not crumble.
5) Soak the ball,put it on a plate and keep it in the shade until it gets rooted.
6)What is important is to keep it from drying off.
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You are right,Anastatia,in saying that this would make a neat gift .Everyone who receives it is extremely grateful.
There has been no exception so far.
Dwarf house plants are the most recommendable targets since you can enjoy their moss-ball indoors.
In such cases bog moss is a lot better than true moss.
Shown bellow is a pic of the bird's fern nest
I have got to try this, it's just beautiful!
First of all,welcome to DG,Tomtom.We love to see how people do things elsewhere in the world.
What a lovely idea! My Mom has orchids and this looks like something that she would love.
It's beautiful! Do you do this for your own pleasure or do enter floral competitions? Everything you create is so elegant.
Too cool Tom!
Dear tiG,
Thank you for your words. Just try and see what it is like.
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Hello melody,
Thank you for welcoming me to DG.
I do hope you'll try this for your mother.
She'll surely love it.
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Liz,
I started to do this for my own pleasure of course,but now even those who are not gardeners love it,I think I must say I do it for other people's pleasure too.
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Hello rootdoctor,
I'm glad you like it,
Thank you .
This is very lovely, Tomtom. Elegant, understated and presents the object on display beatuifully. Thank you for sharing the idea. I'm most appreciative, you are a most welcome member--what has it been, almost a month now? Enjoy Dave's.
Hello Sunrize,
Thank you so much for your encouraging words.
I've been enjoying sharing ideas at Dave's.
christmascactus
Jul 21, 2003
I agree with sunrize,they are so Elegant-just lovely.
Now if,I can find some pretty moss.
Thank you for sharing your pictures & ideas.
Hello cc,
Thank you so much.Gorgeous containers are certainly attractive, but such sober,understated displays are sometimes equally attractive,aren't they?
How do you like this ,cc?
christmascactus
Jul 22, 2003
Tom,I agree.
WOW!!! I love it!!
Now that is lovely. Texture, colour, subtlety--in a way, more complexity than usual. Do you not find that one must delve into this type of display slowly, and thus pause to savour.
I haven't seen Moss ball planters since 1958 when my Great Aunt used to make them! She used bits of sponge to hold water about the roots and soaked them in manure tea to provide nutrients to the plants. I had forgotten all about them until I saw your post! She passed away in 1959 but I can remember that she was considered odd for her "strange" ways back then. I bet she would get a big laugh to see them being popular now.
They are just beautiful. Wait til my kids see this. They are a bt old for making guys with crazy grass hair out of nylon stockings. This will be a wonderful project. Tom, How large is the arrangement in the last picture?
cc,I'm so glad you agree withe me and love it!
thank you so much.
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Thank you, Sunrize,for your fitting words.
I do and love big ,gorgeous containers,too,
but these moss-balls are in a way different from them.
I agree with you that moss-balls are just right to pause to savor closely.
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Wow,was your Great Aunt creative,Zanymuse!
I also am very fond of thinking aboutgstrange" things.
Shades of your Great Aunt, perhaps?
This type of display has long been done in Japan.
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Frogsrus,I'm so glad you like my pics. I hope your kids will come to like them too.
The size is 25cm wide,15cm.deep,and 30cm.high.
We have plants and will try it tomorrow. Gotta love a 99 cent store that carries plants. We will start small I think. Maybe we should use the baby spider plants that are growing in the lawn to practice on. Tomtom, thank yu so much for sharing this with us.
so many creative and unique ideals!!
beautiful tomtom
Hello frogsrus.How did you come out?
Little spider plants 'll surely make wonderful moss-balls.
I love spider plants too. They also make attractive hanging baskets. Shown below is a pic of this.
This message was edited Thursday, Jul 31st 7:23 AM
Hello roof57mi. I do appreciate your comment.Thank you.
Tomtom, Gorgeous spider!! I like the flowers around it. How do you keep the growing spider from kiillng them? 2 pots? I will have to try that. I have a smallish striped one that needs a new pot.
I am going to have to start a couple of those for Christmas presents. Maybe a green spider with some vareigated geraniums. Hmmmm If you have plants, you always have something to do, that's for sure!!
My DD and one of her friends made lot and lots of moss balls. They had a great time with it. The one girl was not especially coordinated and kept wrapping her fingers onto the ball, but I think it was part of the fun. They used small corn plants, spiders, jade plants, and whatever else came to hand I think. Thanks for sharing this with us. I am going to give it a try in the fall when there is less weeding and watering to do on a daily basis.
PS If anyone else is doing this with children, The children used pieces of nylon stockings to shape the ball before tying on the moss. It requires patience (and some coordination) to hold and wrap. Once they got the hang of it they were better able to handle the materials.
This message was edited Thursday, Jul 31st 10:16 PM
Thank you so muchi,frogsrus.
The flowers around the spider are Pentases(Star Flowers).
I made this by placing the spider which had been grown in a pot after planting pentases in the basket.
They coexisted pretty well.
Your res. is a pleasant reading,describing vividly people around you having a wonderful time with it.
Yes ,you said it -- ifyou have plants, you always have something to do!
Your PS,frogsrus, is extremely good advice not only for children but ,sometimes,for grownups too.
This way you surely get the hang of it easily.
I would be interested in doing this with select ferns... especially some of my Adiantum raddianums, or maybe with a Polystichum tsue-simense.
I wonder if I could just dust that particular ferns spores on the rootball :p the resulting spore germination would resemble moss.
Drew
DeepRoots,
I don't know so much about ferns,
but don't Adiantums require much humidity?
I confess that I have withered them up several times.
That sounds like a very interesting idea .
Why don't you try it and let me know how it will come out ?
This is a beautiful idea. Here in Florida moss is scarce...at least the kind that you could harvest...our damp areas are more algae. Can one grow moss for something like this from spores they sell??
thanks for more moss info/growing
Hello ,DaleP6,
Thank you for your res.
Japan is not very dry and we have long had a great variety of mosses.
I've never tried algae, but chances are they'll make moss surrogates. I think one of the most challenging in gardening is to make the best of what you have.
So why don't you try algae and let me know how they'll come out?
Nor have I tried growing moss from spores.Mosses are unexpectedly sensitive plants,but I have heard some people succeeded in growing mosses by scattering chopped mosses on the bog mosses.
well, now I have something new to try...........now if I can only figure out where to go to raid some moss from........lol
Susan, what about a terrarium supplier, who should have some dried mosses you can rejuvenate with hydration? I used packages of those when I did terrariums way back in the 60s.
I'll have to check into that. Not like I really have any room for more stuff.......lol
Bonsai suppliers have moss spores that supposedly grow under the proper conditions...
Hi,flowox.
In case you can't find true mosses, dried mosses may be used as Aimee kindly suggested.
And the later are preferable when you make moss-balls of dwarf house plants.
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Hello,Aimee.
Thank you so much for your info.
I used gbog mosses"since I didn't know what they are called in US,butit seems that they are called gdried mosses".
Indeed, you 're always learing .Thank you very much.
TT
TT,Amazing!!!!!Nice combos!
I used dried moss for mine but and going to try some fine groundcover on a couple. I am getting brave and may try for a bigger one next.
Tomtom, moss balls are now included in the activities for DD's birthday party. Thanks again for the idea. It is a big hit around here!!
Your succinct commentsArootdoctor,are always encouraging.
Thanks a lot.
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frogsrus,
what a pleasant surprise, to hear you're getting brave.
That surely means that you've got the hang of it so quickly,doesn't it?
You must be the instigator of the big hit around there.
wishing you every success,TT.
well, haven't tried it yet but surely will soon. I've just got too many things to worry about right now but should settle down next week :)
Hi Tomtom
Everything you do is a work of art! What plants
do you have growing in the large moss ball container-
the one where you asked "How do you like this C.C.?"
Hello,flowox. Here's hoping that it'll come out very well.
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Hello, Lilypon.
Thank you so much for your encouranging words.
The plants in the pic are Aster scaber,
Ophiopogon japonicus var-Black,Artemisia schmidtiana,which
have been planted for over half a year in the pumice container over the soil of which moss has spread.
I admire your taste, Lilypon. Is that not the most exquisite arrangement ever? Simple, beautiful.