Moss is a fuzzy plant often used as an accent in Asian-style gardens.
Fuzzy plants provide texture to a garden. Just as color and fragrance add their own appeal to a flower bed, texture brings another dimension. Add texture to a garden by using perennials with fleecy foliage or fluffy flowers. Many of these plants are easy to grow and available at home and garden centers. An added benefit of fuzzy perennials is that deer usually avoid them, as they find the texture unappealing to their palates.
Lamb's Ears
A widely grown fuzzy plant is Stachys byzantina, more commonly known as lamb's ears. The name is quite descriptive of this perennial, which has soft, silvery, elongated leaves. Hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) zones 4 through 8, lamb's ears are grown for their fuzzy foliage, but they also sport lilac-pink flowers in early summer. They form a thick soft mat, 12 to 18 inches high, that works for borders in front of a garden. Lamb's ears are often used in children's gardens, because youngsters are attracted to the name and the plant's soft texture. Grow lamb's ears in full to half sun.
Astilbe
Astilbe is a fluffy perennial that grows best in part shade and moist soil. Plumes of textural white, pink, red or mauve flowers bloom on 2- to 4-foot-tall stems in early to mid-summer. There are many varieties of astilbe, and most are easy to grow. The showy plumes, which resemble ostrich feathers, rise on spikes from a mound of glossy fern-like leaves. Astilbe is hardy in USDA zones 4 to 8.
Woolly Thyme
Thymus pseudolanuginosus, or woolly thyme, forms a low-growing, creeping carpet of tiny, silvery, hairy leaves. Used as a ground cover and a culinary herb, woolly thyme is hardy in USDA zones 6 to 8 and spreads up to 3 feet. It grows best in full sun and is tough enough to be walked on if planted in the cracks between stepping stones. Tiny pale pink flowers bloom in late spring to summer. This member of the mint family Laminaceae is drought tolerant. It can be used for comic effect as hair on top of face-shaped planter.
Moss
Moss is often used to create a feeling of age to a hardscape element, such as brick and stone, and to add texture to a garden. Often seen in Asian-style gardens, this small flowerless velvety plant grows only under moist conditions. A member of the Bryophyta division, moss lacks true roots and reproduces by releasing spores. It is easy to grow on new brick and stone by applying yogurt or buttermilk. This promotes the growth of a lush green carpet of soft velvet.
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