Mosses for a Residential Landscape

The Bar Harbor Garden Club is pleased to present “Mosses for a Residential Landscape” with Matthew Wallhead, ornamental horticulture specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and environmental horticulture professor in the School of Food and Agriculture on Thursday, April 14, 2022, by Zoom. Matthew will discuss how you can create an eco-friendly landscape with mosses that provide low- maintenance, and are forgiving and beneficial to your own garden.

Photograph courtesy of Matthew Wallhead.

Spring is here and now it is time to plant your Maine garden. Learn how to create a “magical world” with mosses in your garden. Matthew is on the forefront of the movement to bring the lush, fluffy natural carpet back to yards. In the past, nurseries and garden centers and lawn care professionals were focused on eliminating moss. Now, you can maximize the benefits of Maine mosses to enhance your landscape. Mosses provide an alternative to grass and the browns and grey tones with the changing seasons. A moss garden might be the right solution for you to enjoy the jewel tones of gold, copper, crimson, and vibrant greens throughout the year and fight the negative effects of drastic swings in temperature. When you plant or cultivate these natural plants, they are truly green environmentally, thrive in shadier locations, require no fertilizer, are immune to most insects, do not require pesticides and taste bad to deer. It is a win-win all around!

Matthew Wallhead received a doctorate in plant biology and science from the University of New Hampshire, with a focus on disease management for apples. He joined the University of Maine in 2018 and conducts applied research in cut flower production, fungi, ornamental gardens and educates growers on practices to increase production efficiency and profitability. He has written extensively and can frequently be heard on local radio and in interviews by the Bangor Daily News.

The Club meeting will begin with a brief business discussion at 1:00 P.M. and the talk will follow at 1:30 P.M. All are welcome to join the meeting and presentation. This presentation is one of the monthly programs offered by the Bar Harbor Garden Club to the public, but non-members are asked to make a reservation by emailing president@barharborgardenclub.org or call 207-460-8496.