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Kokedama Mama
Written By: Donna Rhodes | Issue: 2020/09 – September
Given time, Janice Mankovich of Little Flowering Mountain would fall in love with just about every kind of flower and/or foliage on the planet.
Last week it was Snapdragons. Today it’s Chinese Asters. Next week it could be Dianthus or Pansies or Galax. She often showcases this week’s best foliage pal in a delightful natural hanging planter, self-contained, made of a ball of soil, then wrapped in a blanket of moss. This ancient Japanese artform is called Kokedama (moss ball).
Her all-time favorite go-to plant is one of the second most prolific species on Mother Earth, Fern Moss. Don’t ask what’s the most dominant species. There’s a world-wide debate. But she’ll settle for second place, because who couldn’t love a furry living pelt of practically indestructible green. It’s as charming as a Chia Pet, much more durable, it can hang wherever plants can thrive, it benefits the environment, and it’s so darn cute.
Janice says, “Little Flowering Mountain (name borrowed from a small Guatemalan village) represents a prayer to the earth and environment. I trust the Universe to give me direction. I’ve always had gardens. Flowers make me happy. When I sold flowers people smiled and loved them. That gave me joy. It formed a satisfying cycle.”
Janice, a transfer from Vermont, has called Highlands home for seven years. Her companions are a prolific garden (that took some creating in this rocky soil) and a large Pyrenees mix, Cloud, to help protect her goats who devour the underbrush and provide compost and sometimes milk.
Her mountainside is home to her mossery. Most of her Kokedama materials are native/natural and she is careful to re-plant, reduce, and reuse so she leaves no footprint on the environment.
It’s no surprise her pieces are captivating. She’s spent many years creating and designing handbags, garments, and much more in fashion’s mecca, New York.
See Janice and her I-must-have-one creations at either Village Green, Cashiers, from 3:00 to 6:00 P.M. on Wednesdays, or Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park in Highlands, Saturdays from 8:00 A.M. to noon. Visit her Facebook page, facebook.com/LittleFloweringMtn/, call (828) 526-3037 or email [email protected].
