Sphagnum packs a frame. Sheet and woodland moss dress a surface. Live moss is for shaded ground, where it keeps growing. Moss is sold under half a dozen names and they are not interchangeable, so buy the wrong one and you get a frame that will not hold its packing, or a surface that dries and goes grey.
Sphagnum: the one that packs a frame
Long-fibre sphagnum is the structural moss. The fibres are long and springy, so they knit together when you pack them, and they hold many times their own weight in water. You can plant ivy or succulents into the frame later because the packed sphagnum holds water for their roots.
Soak it before you pack. Sphagnum is sold dry and compressed, by weight, and it expands enormously once it is wet. Dry sphagnum pushed into a frame springs back out; wet sphagnum stays where you put it.
Keeping sphagnum in good condition has its own guide, and so does packing a frame with it.
Sheet and woodland moss: the ones that dress a surface
Use sheet and woodland moss to cover the soil in a planter or to hide the mechanics of an arrangement. They come as flat pieces rather than loose fibre, so you lay them over something instead of packing them into it.
They also cover the face of a panel. They arrive as one continuous surface with its own texture, so they look settled straight away. Loose moss does not.
They hold far less water than sphagnum, so they are a covering rather than a growing medium.
Woodland moss is also what we supply for re-mossing a frame whose covering has thinned. Mist it until it is pliable, then press it into the frame in small sections from the bottom up. Floral wire holds it there.
Surface moss is sold by volume rather than weight, so the bags are marked in cubic inches and cubic feet. Volume is the right measure for a surface: work out the area you are covering and how deep you want it to read.
$155. Woodland moss: six bags of 820 cubic inches each. For dressing a surface or re-mossing a frame.
$525. Sphagnum, 46 lb bale: the trade size.
Quoted. Live moss in rolls, for shaded ground.
Live moss: the one that keeps growing
Use live woodland moss, sold in rolls, on shaded, moist ground where you want it to grow and spread. It is alive, and in the right spot it establishes on its own.
Put it in a shaded garden or in the gaps between pavers. North-facing ground suits it too. It gives you a green surface that looks like it arrived by itself.
It does not hold in full sun or in a dry position, and it does not do well indoors. All three take away the moisture it lives on.
How much to buy
Buy more sphagnum than the frame looks like it should hold. Packing a frame firmly takes more moss than you expect, and a thinly packed frame settles unevenly.
Here is what the packs contain. The woodland moss set is six bags, each of 820 cubic inches, so 4,920 cubic inches in total. The larger set is six bags of two cubic feet each. Sphagnum is sold by weight, up to a 46-pound bale.
There is no rule of thumb for how much moss a frame takes. Tell us the frame or the area and we will tell you what people usually order for it. Ask before you order rather than after, because a guess costs you either a wasted bag or a half-finished animal.
Buying in quantity
The 46-pound bale is the trade size. Florists and garden centres order it, and so do workshops. For larger volumes or repeat supply, bulk preserved moss covers the preserved side, and we will quote on live and dried.
The full supplies range is on the supplies category, including moss-green spray for refreshing a tired surface.
Questions we get asked
What is the difference between sphagnum and sheet moss?
Sphagnum is long-fibre and springy, and it holds many times its weight in water, so it packs a frame and supports planting. Sheet and woodland moss are flat and decorative, for dressing a surface or re-mossing a thinned frame. Neither has the long fibre that lets sphagnum pack a body.
Should I soak sphagnum before packing?
Yes. Dry sphagnum pushed into a frame springs back out. Soaked, it stays where you put it and packs evenly.
How much moss will I need?
More than the frame looks like it should hold. We do not publish a figure per frame size, so tell us the frame or the area and we will tell you what people usually order for it.
Can live moss be used indoors?
Not well. It needs shade and constant moisture. For an interior surface that has to stay green with no care, buy preserved moss.
Do you supply trade quantities?
Yes. The 46-pound bale is the standard trade size, and we quote larger or repeat volumes.
