Live Moss Sample Box – Different Types of Moss (3 Varieties)

Not sure which moss your site needs? The Live Moss Sample Box is the practical way to find out. Each box contains three different types of moss — sheet moss, cushion moss and mood moss, in equal amounts — enough of each to plant a real patch, watch how it behaves in your own light and soil, and then order more of whatever thrives. It is the least expensive way to answer the question that stops most moss projects before they start.

These are not offcuts. They are full-quality mosses from the same stock we sell by the square foot, cut to order at our Pennsylvania facility.

What is in the box

	Growth habit	What it is for	Light
Sheet Moss Hypnum imponens	Creeping — a fine, silky carpet that spreads flat	Large-scale groundcover, woodland restoration, shade lawns	Deep shade to shade
Cushion Moss Leucobryum glaucum	Dome-forming — round, spongy cushions	Woodland accents, contrast planting, shaded rock gardens	Part shade to shade
Mood Moss Dicranum scoparium	Mounding — dense, upright tufts	Boulder accents, focal mounds, container gardens	Part shade to full shade

Why these three

They are not three versions of the same thing. A carpet, a cushion and a tuft are the three growth habits a shaded moss planting is built from — the ground, the accent and the sculpture. Seeing all three in the hand is what makes the difference between choosing moss from a photograph and choosing it from experience.

They also share enough range that you can trial all three in the same shaded spot and each will be within its conditions — so what you learn is about your site, not about one species being planted somewhere it never wanted to be.

How to use a sample box

This is the same method we set out in Designing with Moss for working with a living sample library.

1. Rehydrate before you evaluate. Lightly mist dry or dormant samples and allow several minutes for color, texture and growth form to become visible. Judging a sample dry tells you very little.
2. Compare material character. Look at density, scale, surface texture and growth habit — and at the relationship of each moss to stone, soil and the planting around it.
3. Match the moss to the site. Compare light, moisture, substrate, design role and intended coverage before selecting a species. The site decides, not the photograph.
4. Consider form and scale. Work out whether your project needs clumps, sheets, cultivated mats, or loose fragments — these behave differently in use, whatever the species.
5. Test before scaling. For unfamiliar site conditions or significant coverage, establish a small trial area before proceeding with the full installation.

Step five is the one people skip, and it is the one that saves money. A trial patch through one season tells you more than any amount of reading.

Looking after the samples

• Mist for evaluation, then let them air-dry before closing or storing the box.
• Keep the box out of direct sunlight and away from heat sources.
• Never store living samples continuously wet in a sealed container. Moss that cannot dry out is what develops mould.

Treated this way, samples keep for a long time — moss is best stored dry, and drying does not harm it. You can come back to the same box repeatedly as a reference while you plan.

What you can tell from a sample that you cannot tell from a screen

• Scale. Some species are far taller or coarser in the hand than they look in a photograph.
• Texture. Fine and silky, dense and tufted, springy, spongy, glossy — these are touch judgements.
• How it changes. Moss looks different wet and dry, and the difference varies enormously by species. Misting a sample shows you both states in minutes.
• How it sits on your materials. Against your stone, your soil, your existing planting — under your light.

After the samples

When you have chosen, order by the square foot from the species pages. A rough guide to where each one belongs:

• Deep to medium shade, large areas — Sheet Moss
• Sunny joints, crevices and stonework — Sun Moss (Bryum)
• Open sunny ground, rock and roofs — Full Sun Moss (Racomitrium)
• Damp shade, boulders and stream edges — Fern Moss
• Accents and contrast — Pincushion Moss and Mood Moss
• Slopes, banks and path edges — Haircap Moss

Frequently asked questions

Which species come in the box?

Sheet moss (Hypnum imponens), cushion moss (Leucobryum glaucum) and mood moss (Dicranum scoparium), in equal amounts of each. All three are shade species.

Can I plant the samples?

Yes — they are live moss, not display pieces. Planting a sample as a small trial patch is the most useful thing you can do with it: for unfamiliar site conditions, a trial area tells you what a catalogue cannot.

The samples arrived dry. Is that right?

Yes. Moss ships dry and dormant, and greens up within minutes of misting. Mist the samples lightly and give them a few minutes before you judge color and texture — that is step one of the method above.

How long will the samples keep?

Kept cool, out of direct light, with airflow and stored dry between evaluations, they keep well — moss is best stored dry and drying does not harm it. The one thing to avoid is sealing them away damp.

I am specifying moss for a client project. Is this the right thing to order?

It is a good way to compare material character in the hand. For project work also take a look at Designing with Moss, which sets out light, moisture, substrate and design role for twelve species side by side, and book a consultation — for a specification, site conditions matter more than samples do.