Moss Dish Gardens

A moss dish garden is the smallest thing you can make with live moss, and the most forgiving. A shallow vessel, a little grit, a piece of moss and one object worth looking at. No drainage holes needed, no soil worth the name, and no schedule beyond misting it when you walk past.

These are dishes David has built over the years, in everything from handmade pottery to a glass cloche. The moss doing most of the work is cushion moss for the domes, sheet moss for the flat ground, and mood moss where a stone needs softening. Terrarium grade moss is sold from a quarter of a square foot, which is about right for a dish three or four inches across.