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Saturday, October 28, 2017

Just one more

(Note: I will be traveling to Utah and Arizona for three weeks, so there will not be a post until November 20th or so.)
     I thought I was done with garden projects by September.  However, when I come across a bunch of new stones with moss on them...well, I just can't help myself--somewhere, there must be a place for them.  And I found it, just inside the gate to my Japanese-style garden.






Tuesday, October 17, 2017

The "back 40"

     These photos are of the back left corner of the property, actually encroaching a bit onto my neighbor's property (including the shed).  For foreigner viewers, "back 40" refers to a 40-acre (25 hectares) parcel of farmland.  The rock with holes is from a cave, and I stuck Anomodon rostratus
moss into it a few years ago.



Saturday, October 7, 2017

Rising from the "dead"

     Hedwigia ciliata is an amazing moss.  When dormant during a dry period, it can appear deader than a doornail (for you foreign readers, that is an idiom meaning something is really, really dead).  The first photo shows it in that state.  The second photo shows it while hydrated.  You can prove that to yourself by closely looking at particular parts of the photos.  Amazingly, this moss goes from "dead to alive" in only five seconds!  Quite a sight to behold.
     The fourth photo shows H. ciliata on the left side of a rock.  The last photo shows a very large, dense mass of it growing on top of a wall in full sun in Kyoto, Japan.
      I only find it growing on rocks, almost always granite ones, both in sunny and shady areas.  Quite the tough cookie.