However, moss gardens require the highest maintenance of any garden you can grow. They require laborious finger-tip weeding, as mosses make a particularly fertile germination bed for weed seeds. In fact, amateur gardeners who are trying to start difficult seeds often start them in natural moss - plants like heaths, heathers, mountain laurels, Pieris, Rhododendrons and Azaleas. I have never tried a weed preventer like Weed Screen granules on mosses. I believe it should be safe, and it is certainly worth a try in an attempt to reduce the seedling weed population. If it does no damage to the moss, I would apply Weed Screen every year, once in the spring and once again in the fall. Also keep in mind that mosses are very shallowly rooted and they will not tolerate foot traffic.

I do not know of any nurseries that sell mosses. You will have to grow your own. One way to start mosses is to go into the woods, (with permission), and gather up a couple handfuls of the moss you want to start. Put it in an old electric blender with a handful each of Cottonseed Meal and Kelp Meal (absolutely no inorganic fertilizer!!). Fill the blender jar to the top with water and run the blender on high speed until you have created a finely chopped slurry. Lightly loosen the soil with a spading fork where you want the moss to grow. Pour out the contents of the blender, spreading it over the loosened soil. In a few weeks if the conditions are favorable for moss growth, the moss will start to take hold and grow. Fertilize the moss monthly with buttermilk to which a little bit of Cottonseed Meal and Kelp Meal has been added.

Question: I have heard you say that the brown tips on my corn plants could be caused by either lack of humidity or fluoride in the water. I have been misting all winter; also I have been letting the water sit overnight before using it. I don't see any improvement; do you have any other suggestions?

Answer:  Letting water sit in an open top container overnight will remove chlorine but not fluorine. Almost all municipal water has fluorine added to prevent tooth decay in children. You need to find another source for your water: rain water, purchased distilled water, private well water, water that collects in a dehumidifier or the discharge of evaporative water from a heat pump or air conditioner.

Answer: The bagworms will infest your Junipers and damage them. I know of no preventive spray. Spray twice with Orthene to kill bagworms at the young crawling stage. Spray when the bagworms start to crawl and then a month thereafter. In zone 6, spray times would be during the first half of June and during the first half of July. Because any bagworms that would infest your Junipers would have to crawl over from the Arborvitae, I suggest you spray one to two weeks later than normal. In your case, the first spray is more important than the second one. Check your Junipers weekly and hand pick any bagworms that you see.

If you handpick thoroughly and regularly throughout the summer spraying is not necessary and damage will be minimal. When feasible, this is the solution I recommend.

Question: We have a large bed of periwinkle ground cover (vinca) in the shade. I added some Hostas for accent amongst the ground cover a couple of years ago. As they have grown they have killed off some of the ground cover and I have big brown circles where the vinca used to be. They are not noticeable in the summer when the Hosta is leafed out, but in the winter they really are unattractive. The vinca patch is so large I need to do something to add interest.

Answer: Several possibilities come to mind:

1. Plant several kinds of vinca to create a tapestry. In addition to common periwinkle blue, there are vincas that bloom pure white as well as deep maroon. There are also some with golden leaves and some with variegated leaves.

2. Add some spring blooming bulbs amongst the vinca. Many varieties of flower bulbs retain their foliage only a few weeks after blooming - not really long enough to smother the vinca. Consider dwarf daffodils, species tulips, Siberian squill, crocus tomasinianus, winter aconite and snow drops.

3. The problem with the Hosta is that the dense leaf cover spreads much more broadly than the root mass and then it disappears for the winter. Consider evergreen shrubs such as nandina, Hinoki cypress, Pieris or dwarf Cherry Laurel. You can also use upright deciduous shrubs such as enkianthus, deciduous Azaleas (if you have enough sun) or Clethra (if the soil is sufficiently moist).

4. Some perennials will co-exist with the vinca and not shade it out except right around the root: upright ferns such as lady fern, hakonechloa grass, old-fashioned bleeding heart with its ferny leaves which allow the sun to come through before they disappear in mid-summer and evergreen hellebores, having the same size foliage mass all year long.

Answer: I think you'll find Grow Through Supports much more satisfactory than Peony rings. The Peony will make a more natural display and still not fall over. Grow Through Supports need to be placed early; as soon as the Peony starts to grow. Peonies grow rapidly - about an inch a day in the spring so it is easy for them to get ahead of you. I usually place the Grow Through Supports only a couple inches above the ground and when the Peony foliage has unfurled at its maximum height, I raise up the Grow Through Supports so they are about halfway between the ground and the top of the Peony foliage. Thus the Grow Through Support usually winds up about 15" from the ground.