Chicken Wire and Moss Toadstool Living Sculpture

4 Materials
30 Minutes
Easy
A recent visit to a wonderful woodland sculpture park really inspired us to try our hand at making some sculpture of our own. Our first creation was a chicken wire and moss toadstool - it turned out to be super simple to make, and has added such a magical element to our garden.
We started with an old piece of chicken wire, which we folded into four, and then wrapped around a bowl to give us a rough toadstool shape. Although we did then have to open the wire up again, to remove the bowl, I think it still really helped to get the basic form.
We then simply filled our wire form with moss that we collected from a wooded area behind our house. The area we live in has a clay soil, and is permanently damp, so we have an abundance of moss, but if you don't have access to live moss I'm sure that dried, or other organic matter would work equally well.
Once we had filled our shape, we simply folded the wire in, to hold the moss in place.
We then planted some tiny succulents straight into the top, using a pencil to make little planting holes.
To make the stem for our toadstool, we used another piece of chicken wire. This time we folded the wire in half, and then rolled it up into a tube, lining the final third with a little more moss.
We used bamboo canes to secure this to the ground, and to help secure our top to the stem.
From start to finish, this project only took about half an hour. It was super easy to make, and it really does look fabulous. I plan to move it to a more shaded area of the garden, which will be a nicer habitat for the moss, and hope that it will continue to grow and develop over time.
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  • Shirley lester Shirley lester on Jul 13, 2017

    Clever idea! I would like to know the name of the purple flowers around your moss sculpture. I love the wild flowers and wondered if that's what these are. Thank you!

  • Vivian Vivian on Jun 26, 2019

    Thanks this is exactly what I need for my sister-in-law’s request for a mushroom in her woodland garden. Wonderful and easy to assemble. Love it !!!!!

  • Eva Ely Eva Ely on Oct 20, 2021

    Will those succulents and moss survive through the winter?

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  • Dayna Shallenberger Dayna Shallenberger on Jun 04, 2019

    adorable! so clever and so low maintenance! we are so busy right now remodeling two rental houses that i decided to use fake flowers in my window boxes so i don't have to spend time watering. i could satisfy my inner gardener with this project. this will even last for years. thank you for sharing.

  • Sonja Horn Sonja Horn on Jun 25, 2020

    Love this idea! I just collected some mosses to add to my flower gardens. Thanks so much !

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