Do I want moss to grow in between my pavers?

[Anonymous]

I love the look of an old 1920-30s red brick paver patio. I've seen some in old houses with moss growing in-between the pavers in the joints, it looks so pretty to me and so charming.

Fast forward, I had a 15 x 55ft red brick paver patio put in with 45 degree herringbone to try and replicate the look I love. Just sand in between the joints but they are very very tight spaces. I'm wondering if I should try to encourage moss to grow since it's such a large large area right up on our house. Does it get slippery, hold in moisture, bring green foot prints into the house ( kids play on the patio). Would I want it for patio parties, etc?

Ok the plus side, would it keep it weeds. And is this something you can even "make" happen or is it one of those things that cannot be made to happen?

[Anonymous]

Depends. I did this and had a hard time getting rid of it when I realized how slippery it was when it spread over top of the pavers. It looked beautiful though.

[Anonymous]

I love moss. However, moss only grows in the right conditions of shade and humidity. Usually pavers are in full sun and don't have moss here.

[Anonymous]

Oooooo, good point. Our pavers get a full load of sun in the afternoon so maybe it's a moot point anyway as they likely wouldn't grow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends. I did this and had a hard time getting rid of it when I realized how slippery it was when it spread over top of the pavers. It looked beautiful though.

Yep, it can be really slippery which is why I don't allow it to grow.

[Anonymous]

Pretty but slippery. You could maybe moss up some containers to get the mossy look vertically?

[Anonymous]

What about creeping thyme?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about creeping thyme?

+1 creeping thyme would be great. It does take effort though, or else just buy a lot of it from the getgo. I've been trying to get creeping thyme to take over my rowhouse sidewalk treebox in DC, but fighting weeds has been tough. This year I bought a bunch and hoping that it can sorta fight away the weeds that keep trying to take over.

[Anonymous]

Oh creeping thyme is so pretty! I just looked it up though and some of our pavers are so so so so tight, think 1-2mm cracks, I think I'll just leave it. It may look silly too have such a large area that looks so green and grassy. I do have some flag some elsewhere that the creeping thyme may be pretty for though!

[Anonymous]

How about Irish moss? Like sun (but not drought)

https://www.gardenguides.com/92299-plant-irish-moss-between-paving-stones.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh creeping thyme is so pretty! I just looked it up though and some of our pavers are so so so so tight, think 1-2mm cracks, I think I'll just leave it. It may look silly too have such a large area that looks so green and grassy. I do have some flag some elsewhere that the creeping thyme may be pretty for though!

If you go for creeping thyme, would buy quite a lot of it even for a small area - it comes in very small pieces and has taken me awhile (years) to really get it to spread. This is where my battle has been with the weeds, trying to get it to spread instead of them, so now I'm going to just plant the heck out of it. On the other hand, it's beautiful when it blooms and the bees LOVE it! You can buy different kinds to mix in different colors if you want.