Unpopular opinion: I was wrong about moss being a lazy ground cover

For 2 years I thought moss was just a cheap way to fill bare spots in my shady backyard in Seattle, so I kept trying to grow grass there and it kept dying by July. Last spring I gave up on the grass and planted a few moss plugs from a nursery down the street, and I honestly expected them to die too. What convinced me was watching a patch near my downspout triple in size over 6 weeks while the rest of the yard baked. I checked my notes and the moss area stayed damp even on the 80 degree days, because moss just holds water way better than fescue does in shade. That total failure with grass cost me about $60 in seed and 2 summers of my time, while the moss plugs ran me $14 and basically took care of themselves. Now I want to try sheets of it along the north fence, but I'm worried about the dry stretch in August. Has anyone in a zone 8 area kept moss alive through a hot summer without running a sprinkler?

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allen.quinn26d ago

Moss needs no sprinkler, but August will test you.

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