Moss, a pest well known to anyone who has ever tried to grow the perfect lawn, has been given its own garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.

It is the first time that a garden of moss has gone on display at the Royal Horticultural Society’s show and prompted a call for more people to cultivate mosses at home.

Although many visitors to Chelsea may itch to reach out for their scarifiers, the garden has been a labour of love for its Japanese creator, Kazuyki Ishihara. He has used walls of undulating moss surrounded by running water to recall his childhood days when he roamed the countryside around Nagasaki.

Mr Ishihara was putting the finishing touches to his garden yesterday, which includes three types of moss. He said that the display, called the Garden of Clouds, was designed as a “comfort to your soul”. The innovative design has already attracted the admiration of the RHS and is tipped to win a medal after tomorrow’s judging.

Bob Sweet, organiser of the show, said: “Moss has been used in gardens at the show before, but I don’t think we’ve ever had a garden devoted to it. It’s stunning.

“Moss is a fantastic plant. There are a huge number of varieties, in many shades. They are plants that sometimes people think of as a nuisance but I think they are underrated as garden plants. I think the Japanese are possibly pointing towards a new trend which we can all start thinking about.”

He added: “I encourage moss in my garden. I love it. It has a real place in the garden. I don’t even mind it in the lawn.”

The show opens to RHS members tomorrow. Sustainability is one of the key themes and for the first time every garden will be either entirely or partially recycled.

The Amnesty International garden will be removed in its entirety at the end of the show to be installed on the roof of the human rights organisation’s headquarters in London.

Stevie Tyler, an Amnesty spokesman, said: “Wherever possible, the garden has been constructed using materials from sustainable resources. It will be recycled and have a permanent home as a roof garden.

“It will provide an informal meeting space for Amnesty staff and visitors. It is designed to benefit the local environment by encouraging local wildlife to flourish.”

Next year the RHS plans to compel all of its garden designers to answer detailed questions on the sources of their plants. They will be asked the country of origin of the plants, whether they were grown in hothouses or in the open and what quantities of chemicals were used to grow them.

The organisers hope that this will create greater awareness among garden designers of their impact on the environment and make them think more about their actions.

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