Moss

Mosses commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems. There are approximately 12,000 species of moss. There was a time in the late 19th century that lead people to collect various different types of moss and establish a mossery made out of slatted wood, with a flat roof, open to the north side, thus maintaining shade. Samples of moss were installed in the cracks between the wooden slats. The whole mossery would then be regularly moistened to maintain growth.

I have always wondered at most. I know there are a lot of gardeners out there who spend time making sure their lawns are moss free, but I do not. I like seeing moss, on dead stumps and guttering (however, this is not useful in the winter, because it can block drainage). On occasions I have seen at certain times, mosses produce spore capsules which may appear as beak-like capsules borne aloft on thin stalks, often appearing on brick walls around the Chapel that’s just closed.

This morning the weather was decidedly wet, but completely ideal from the moss that I found attached to this old stump. You, have to get really close to see the detail of the tender plant. It is so easily destroyed when it is dislodged from it’s holding place, you cannot not press it back in place like a golfing divot.

Deuteronomy 32:2
Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.