MidwestLiving
See How One Man Made Moss the Star of His Magical Woodland Garden
Many homeowners view moss as a pesky nuisance, but one retired professor in Wisconsin has made it his muse.
By
Teresa Woodard
Published on May 4, 2025
DALE SIEVERT
Dale Sievert is no stranger to awe-inspiring gardens. On visits to more than 100 countries, he has seen Kyoto’s famous temple gardens in Japan and Tivoli’s Villa d’Este in Italy. Yet it was a drive in 2005 to an obscure location just 200 miles from his home that most changed his life. “I almost didn’t take the trip,” the retired economics professor says. “It ended up being the most important garden trip in my life.”
Dale Sievert sits on a retaining wall made of repurposed railroad ties in his Waukesha, Wisconsin, garden. (IMAGE) Bob Stefko
The destination was Foxfire Gardens in Marshfield, Wisconsin, where a Japanese garden caught his eye. “It had a small moss garden,” he says, “maybe only 8 feet by 15 feet, under some trees. Some dappled sunlight came through and hit brightly on a few spots. It absolutely floored me.” Today, he experiences the same sense of wonder in his own Waukesha, Wisconsin, backyard—a lush masterpiece created over two decades. Here, mosses carpet earth mounds, line stream banks, fill hundreds of containers and envelop even more stones. “After a rain, moss is irresistible,” he says, “especially with a little backlighting.”
Cultivating moss (such as yellow yarn moss, pictured) on soil or stones mounded in containers is a great beginner project. (IMAGE) Bob Stefko
Easily overlooked, mosses have played a critical evolutionary role. In fact, they were the original land plants. Over 450 million years, they’ve survived drastic climate changes, including multiple ice age cycles. Today, there are 12,000-some species, adapted to thrive on every continent, from snowy mountains to hot deserts. Mosses (and their cousins, liverworts and hornworts) are classified as bryophytes—the plant world’s second-most diverse group. Unlike other land plants, they don’t have flowers or roots and multiply largely through spores rather than seeds. When Dale first started collecting mosses in 2006, he tried all kinds—up to 40 different species. Some fizzled out, especially those transplanted from different soil conditions. “Around here, we have slightly alkaline conditions that not all mosses tolerate,” he says, pointing to others that have succeeded, including common tree-skirt moss, fern moss, baby tooth moss and his favorite, yellow yarn moss. In his passion, Dale embraces Moss Gardening author George Schenk’s philosophy: “Every John and Jane grows grass. Only Nature’s chosen grow moss.” Over the years, Dale has patiently mastered the technical aspects of nurturing moss, including light, soil and water requirements; the different surfaces mosses grow on; and the pH conditions required. In establishing his garden, he has also diligently tackled maintenance challenges of clearing debris, pulling weeds and protecting the landscape from animal damage. Each year he adds another project, large or small. There’s a sunken garden with a stone grotto. A terraced hillside woodland garden. A patio lined with a cobblestone wall. Benches built of paired boulders and rustic slabs. A tabletop balanced on twisted stumps. And, hearkening to his original inspiration, a 5,000-square-foot Japanese garden. Anywhere and everywhere, moss flourishes.
When visitors arrive at Dale Sievert's home, they encounter a mossy entry garden by the driveway—a mere taste of what's to come. (IMAGE) Bob Stefko