The winner of the Carolyn Westbrook book is:

Sheila of Our Bungalow’s 2nd Century:

Happy birthday, Karen! My favorite mirrors are also those whose silvering is losing its luster! When I was a little kid, we didn’t have a lot, and my parents started making use of cast-off family antiques (which now fill my house). I remember them not wanting a mirror because the silver was going bad, but even as a child I thought it had such character. To this day I love old, beat-up mirrors!

Congratulations, Sheila. Send me your shipping information via email and I’ll send the book.

I love to work in the garden and living in Southern California I can do this without concern for weather most of the year.  This is something that has great benefit and at the same time leaves me longing for the occasional snow storm or an abundance of rain found in so many other places.

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One of the many things I admire in a garden is the moss-laden stone where weather encourages this growth.  England comes to mind, but I’ve seen beautiful moss growing on stone benches and planters in Washington state and other regions of the world.  Where I live I have to work at it if I want something to have the patina that comes with moss and rust and such.

On my visit to the Bloedel, Bainbridge Island, Washington last fall I found plenty of beautiful moss, including a moss garden they created.

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…and then there’s this…England {sigh}

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{5 ~ Bruges, Belgium}

Recently one of my favorite sites, Design Chic, featured “Marvelous Moss” in the garden, and in the same week I stumbled upon a recipe, in fact 2 recipes, for growing moss on stone or terra cotta (I have searched in vain for the source, but here are the recipes I had copied and pasted for future reference).

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The moss on this bench is the goal, I love it, especially the rich green in contrast with the white hydrangea.

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I’d guess that moss grows in abundance in the shade of these willow trees.

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I love this fountain in part because it looks antique and for it’s pond-like basin, so soothing to listen to water dripping gently into water.

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I’ve seen man-made water features such as this, isn’t it pretty?

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I would love a stone wall, maybe one with a better gate, in the back yard.

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I confess, my sundial is starting to look a bit aged, like this one, but it’s in too much sun to truly grow the emerald stuff.

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{Newton Winery, St. Helena, California}

{As an avid fan of blog-reading and general online fanatic  enthusiast, I’m forever wondering how I survived without all of this information at my fingertips before.}  First of all, did you know you can buy actual live moss spores?  I was very surprised.  {What doesn’t Amazon sell}

If you decide to try the recipe, the first one suggests you can use moss from the garden as a starter, or obtain moss spores.

Adding Moss Works Best On
Terra Cotta Stone or Concrete Containers ~ Stone or Concrete Sculptures
There are 2 ways to go about doing this. Both ways work really well, so choose one that best suits your tastes.

Moss requires an acidic environment to grow, which can be developed by painting a pot with buttermilk or yogurt, that’s why both recipes below have one or the other.
Recipe 1:

1. Collect mosses either from around your yard or a friends or neighbors (you can also buy moss spores at a garden store)
2. Finely chop the moss up (or sprinkle in the moss spores into the mix below if you purchased them)
3. Allow the moss bits to dry up for a couple of days (if you collected them yourself)

Then mix together in a large bucket or bowl:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1-1 1/2 cups dried, crumbled moss

Once the above is mixed together, put the bucket in full sun for three days.

When the mixture is good and smelly, brush it generously with a paintbrush on the outsides of your clay pots. Then wrap the pots in plastic wrap and put them in partial sun.

In two weeks the pots will start to grow mold, and by eight weeks the pots will be nice and furry with moss, and looking very antique and old.
Recipe 2:

• Blend pieces of dried moss or purchased moss spores into
• 2 cups yogurt or buttermilk
• Paint onto your pot with a paintbrush
• Put your pot into a plastic bag to create a humid environment for the moss to develop
• Set the pot and bag in a cool, shady spot until the moss begins to form, which will be about 10 days
• Make sure to plant the container so you will be watering it regularly, which will keep the moss alive and growing.

I know moss growth isn’t for everyone, in fact we had a door to door salesman stop by one day selling some “special” cleaning product.  Before I could stop him, to demonstrate his wonder product he sprayed a part of the brick at our entry and was so proud that it instantly removed the bit of moss that had grown there!

So would you actually apply one of these recipes to a planter in your garden? I think I may try it…I’ll let you know if it works.

{1} tumblr Connoisseur, Oxford :: {2} Garden, Home and Party :: {2 England, 3 England, Yorkshire Dales, 4 Bruges, Belgium} source unknown :: {5} Design Chic via Cheryl Rowe :: {6} Design Chic via la maison gray garden :: {7} Design Chic via Mother Earth Living :: {9} Irene Suchocki Photography :: {10} Haus Design,sadly Barbara has stopped her blog posts :: {11, 12} Pinterest :: {13} Providence Ltd. Design :: {14, 15} source unknown :: {16} tumblr, Connoisseur :: {17} Wasping through the Countryside :: {18} Pinterest