Make the most of moss: This ancient plant has special powers - so use it rather than remove it READ MORE: Action plan: CIAR BYRNE's essential jobs for your garden this week By Ciar Byrne For The Daily Mail Published: 15:12 EDT, 23 June 2024 | Updated: 15:13 EDT, 23 June 2024 e-mail View comments For years, gardeners have been removing moss from their lawns and patios believing it to be unsightly. But now we are being encouraged to see this ancient plant in a new light and deliberately grow it. Not only is moss good for drainage and sucks up pollution, but it also has a calming effect, is ideal for shady spots, low maintenance and doesn't need mowing.
At next month's RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, 24-year-old Bea Tann, a graduate landscape architect with agricultural and environmental consultancy ADAS, is designing a garden on the theme of Moss Magic. She aims to show how this humble green groundcover can be a beautiful addition to shady gardens. Her design features a moss lawn together with beech and Scottish red pine trees, as well as natural slate paving.
Magical: Moss-covered walls make an enchanting space LET IT GROW Tann was inspired by Macclesfield Forest in Cheshire near where she grew up. 'It's funny how a lot of people go to those landscapes and find them beautiful, but then when they see moss growing in their own lawns, they think it's something they need to spray and remove,' she says. 'It inspired me to make it look beautiful and show that it's something you don't.
