The oldest plant on Earth is undergoing a renaissance. While the stately orchid is still the prize of the seasoned plant collector, it is the lowly moss that is receiving a new wave of love and admiration from the newest generation of hip gardeners.  And why not? Moss is beautiful, texturally interesting, and fairly easy to grow.

Moss belongs to a class of plants that do not produce seeds or flowers. Instead, mosses produce spores, like ferns. Unlike ferns, though, they have no vascular structures – they rely on the surrounding environment to move water through the plant. That is why mosses are always so small: they are non-woody plants that have no system to support larger growth.