Rather than the usual green, these two species tend toward golden green. Both commonly found in lawns, they also thrive in the sunnier portions of the moss garden. It is now much different than its original brambly, boggy state.ĭicranum scoparium, common on soil and rotted logs and stumpsĪmong the more common mosses are bent-leaf moss (Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus) and pointed-spear moss (Calliergonella cuspidata). The ground is a soft, green carpet and moss coats logs, rocks, tree bases and branches. Thirty-six years later, there are at least 45 species of native mosses and liverworts identified within the moss garden. Native mosses indeed came in and filled in as hoped. It was hoped that the native mosses would take over within five years or so. Rather than plant moss directly, they planted 275,000 starts of Irish moss - a flowering plant that only resembles moss. With the land cleared of most undergrowth, the garden crew set about establishing moss. Many alders were removed but not all Prentice Bloedel was quite fond of the species and directed workers to preserve many specimens on the western edge of the garden. What was largely a salmonberry bog with lots of red alder was cleared of most underbrush. Together with Haag and Brown, they chose an approximately one-acre plot with a high water table bordering the northwest corner of the reflection pond as the future location of the moss garden. He was sold on the idea and decided to create a moss garden on his own property. Prentice Bloedel was impressed by the extensive use of moss within authentic Japanese gardens. ![]() The shared many photos taken of Japanese gardens with their parents. Upon returning to Washington, they related their impressions to Prentice Bloedel.Īround the same time, the Bloedels’ daughter, Virginia Wright, and her husband returned from travelling in Japan. The combination of dark stems of red huckleberry against the green, velvet moss carpet was particularly striking. While there, Haag and Brown observed the liberal use of moss within the Nitobe Japanese Garden. First, Richard Haag and the Bloedel Reserve’s first executive director, Richard Brown, attended an annual meeting of the American Public Garden Association at the University of British Columbia. The decision to install a moss garden was borne from a couple different experiences. In the early ’80s, Prentice Bloedel engaged accomplished landscape architect Richard Haag to create four garden “rooms.” These were Birdmarsh, the Reflection Pond, the Moss Garden and the Garden of Planes that was later converted into what is now the Stone Garden, located in front of the guest house within the Japanese Garden. Still other areas were developed into specific gardens over the years: the Reflection Pond, the Glen, the Japanese Garden and several others. Other parts purchased from previous land owners were left to return to a more natural state. Part of the land was allowed to remain forest. Over the following decades, they added more land, eventually bringing their property to its current 150-acre size. Timber magnate Prentice Bloedel and his wife, Virginia, originally purchased some of the land in 1951 that would eventually become the Bloedel Reserve. While many public gardens make extensive use of moss, the Bloedel Reserve moss garden stands out because moss is the primary focus, not just a major part of the garden. Gardens devoted specifically to moss are uncommon, but West Sound is fortunate to have a green gem: the Moss Garden at the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. So prolific is moss that entire companies exist to control it and in the drizzly Pacific Northwest, those companies tend to do well.īut moss can also be a welcome interloper or an intentional landscape component. Given enough time and clear space, such as a roof, a green carpet will slowly form.
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