The Magical World of Moss Gardening

Annie Martin’s moss book is nothing short of fantastic! I highly recommend it to anyone who is even vaguely interested in moss. Mossin’ Annie she knows her stuff and does a fine job of making mosses accessible to everyone. I own several moss books and this is my all-time favorite and the book I go to first for assistance. The book is superbly illustrated with photographs of moss on nearly every page. It is the best-illustrated moss book on the market. And the photos are beautiful! There are a number of pictures of how to use moss in the garden, a section of some famous Japanese moss gardens, and a delightful introduction to 25 common mosses. And the photos are large enough to provide the detail that the reader needs to become familiar with the moss. It’s easy to follow Annie Martin’s step-by-step tutorials on how to design, plant, and care for moss in the garden. Importantly she goes into detail about steps you need to take to determine where moss will grow well in your garden. My husband and I really enjoyed following her suggestions for assessing our yard and were delighted to locate moss that is already growing on our property. I bought the book this winter (I live in Michigan) and using this book we have already started two small gardens in different locations on our property. And we have just begun!

I have always loved the look of moss and now after being inspired by this awesome book I can't wait to get started incorporating moss into my garden. As a master gardener I love trying new things. The internet is full of misinformation on how to get moss growing. I always thought it was a bogus idea blending moss with buttermilk among other things, Annie agrees this is not a way to get moss started. She definitely knows her moss and I love watching her YouTube videos. I was so excited finding out she wrote a book. It's so fun to look for moss and now I know you can plant it any day of the year! So many possibilities and projects! Well written and informative. A book I will refer to often. Keep in mind that the best place to grow moss is where you see it naturally growing on your property. Edited, 2 years later...I have now planted several types of moss between flagstone stepping stones in the shade. It looks so cool and has slowly filled in all the cracks. It’s not been invasive at all to plants growing alongside this shady path. Highly recommend buying this! You rock Annie! Thanks, Barb

A great resource for those who want to start a moss garden or for those who just love mosses!

If this book was intended only for professionals then the extensive use of scientific names would be excusable but I'm thinking the book was intended to reach out to the general public. So please in your next edition, if there is one, please try to include more of the common names for the various mosses as the genus/species for me just go in one ear (or eye) and out the other as this is a new subject to me. I have a double undergraduate degree (biology and anthropology) so I familiar with scientific names but for beginners, use of common names are much more inducive to the learning process!

I didn't realize there were other people so interested in moss gardening until I created my own secret garden in the wooded lot beside our home. This book has inspired me to transplant moss from other parts of our property, and also to purchase different mosses to add a special charm to my woodland sanctuary. I have not read the entire book yet, and admit to skipping to the back chapters in my excitement to begin planting, but now am going back through the pages to educate myself more on the world of moss.

Annie Martin has opened up a whole new world for my gardening obsession and I couldn't be more delighted! She provides a perfect bridge for the mossy uninformed in charming, smart advice with generous, practical know-how. Within 5 weeks of reading her book, I was creating a moss garden which, using her advice is not just surviving but thriving! I wouldn't be surprised to find, years from now, that Annie has helped hundreds of thousands of gardeners in the same way. I did not realize the conservation and ecological benefits of gardening with moss and this too was magic. Using mosses to achieve greater aesthetic satisfaction with her infectious and enthusiastic invitation for anyone to enjoy the most ancient of plant families "Mossin' Annie" is a prophet and this is book is a beacon.

Our lawn is going to moss. It is greener, stays greener all season, than our grass ever did. Helped in identifying the several types of moss growing now and how to spread or multiply its area, and take care of it. Glad we found and read this book. Whenever we asked our "spray and run" lawn service about moss, we just got blank stares and no comment. They would only say that we need to get rid of the moss and sod our lawn (very expensive and requires more "spray and run" chemicals). We have one side yard in 100% moss (very shading there) and it is great. The other side is now in process, but may take a year or so -- kind of letting nature do much of the work.

Inspiringly beautiful

L'idée du livre était intéressante, en réunissant botanique et jardinage. Malheureusement, cela est ruiné par les propos et l'approche plus que dépassée de l'auteur, qui propose des techniques et conseils catastrophiques pour l'environnement et la biodiversité, jusqu'à l'emploi de produits chimiques toxiques interdits. Complètement à rebours de l'approche respectueuse et attentive des Japonais et des jardiniers modernes vis à vis de leur environnement, dans leur jardinage des mousses. Un livre du passé et dépassé.

The book is very well written and covers many mosses and their gardening requirements. I learned a great deal about the mosses covered and mosses in general. The only thing I wish the author would have included would have been the zones to which the specific mosses were best suited. Plenty of excellent photos as well! 5 out of 5!

Excellent book that covers everything you could want to know about mosses. Well written, well illustrated, and if your not a botanist or a scientist (like me) it explains in more than enough depth everything you need to know about moss. recommended.

Libro interesante para todos los que estén investigando o al menos estén interesados en los musgos y briófitos. Además Annie Marin es una de las principales investigadoras en el tema. Recomendable.

Das Buch ist eine große Hilfe nicht nur als Ideenfundgrube für den eigenen Moosgarten sondern vor allem auch als Lehrbuch trotzdem man des Englischen mächtig sein sollte. Während manch anderes Buch nur schöne Bilder zeigt, so wird hier daneben auch auf Umsetzung und Lösung verschiedener Probleme im Umgang mit Moos wert gelegt. Wie effizient es ist, wird sich die nächsten Jahre bei der Umgestaltung meines Gartens zeigen.