Overview and growing conditions

Irish moss is a perennial, flowering groundcover. It does best in an an area where it spends at least four hours in the sun, but not a full day in scorching hot sun. Like many plants, ideally it will get morning sun and afternoon shade if it’s being grown in an area with hot, blazing summers. It also benefits from some extra water during periods of drought, especially in the height of summer.

When does it flower? How long does it flower?

Irish moss sends up tiny white flowers in spring, and they last for about three weeks. They’re not particularly showy though, and I personally grow this plant for it’s gorgeous green color and not the flowers.

How easy is it to care for Irish moss?

Overall score: 6 (somewhat easy). I really love growing this plant between pavers, but I have to admit that it’s not the easiest plant that I grow. This maintenance is somewhat my own fault because I push plants to their limits by trying to see how little I can get away with watering them, how much sun they can handle, and how often I can divide them to get more plants.

Irish moss can’t handle quite as much of this stress and really does struggle when there’s too much sun and not enough water. If I regularly water it, it will hang in okay over the summer, and it grows a decent amount when the weather is cooler in the spring. Unfortunately, last summer we had a week of high 90s in late September when I was out of town and couldn’t water it, and most of my Irish moss turned brown and died. I’m keeping an eye on it this spring to see how much recovers and returns this year, and I’ll report back after a couple more weeks.

Problems with Irish moss

No major problems if it’s planted in the right setting or provided enough water.