This is a "mid-winter" update for the Bougainvillea found on the last-chance table at a local Garden Center. Our "bougie" continues to add foliage & restore broken branches, while adjusting to life in a training pot & apparently, loving it.
Click here to see the complete photo/history & the newest update for this little tree.
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| Euphorbia |
It also keeps fresh potting soil from floating when watered & splashing-up on your plants.
Wood chips can also be used as a mulch or top dressing..pine bark, in particular, is often used in northern climes to provide some level of insulation against colder weather & protection from snow; bark or chips that are high in tannin content are sometimes used for plants that prefer ericaceous or acid-loving soil mix.
So, what kind of moss should I use, where/how do I find it & what does it cost? Those 3 questions are what this article is all about.
What kind? The commonest recommendation that I found was for sphagnum moss, readily available as a dried product that must be reconstituted, which I found to be a pain-in-the-ass. Soaking, squeezing, too wet, not soaked long enough & when I put it on the plant, it looks like a bunch of straw someone might use to protect their veg patch against a late spring frost.
The latest sphagnum iteration I've run across is "preserved sphagnum", which to me looks like "Astroturf" (if anybody out there is old enough to know the reference)..much like using artificial turf on your front yard.
Someone told me, "just scrape some off of a tree".. I live in USDA 10..our trees don't have moss..this is a semi-arid environment. So, it might make sense to see what the local nursery's sell and the closest to what I'm looking for was Irish Moss.
(to be continued)
