Williamsburg Bonsai Nursery Open Daily: The Moss & Green

The Moss & Green, at 169 N 9th St in Williamsburg, is a Japanese kokedama bonsai studio, which means most of its trees and ferns grow out of a hand-wrapped ball of moss instead of a ceramic pot. Founder May Carroll was born and raised in Japan, lived in Hawaii for a few years, and worked as a creative director in New York before her mother taught her to make kokedama. The shop is a short walk from the Bedford Avenue L stop, and it is one of the few bonsai-focused counters in Brooklyn with door hours seven days a week.

Kokedama translates loosely as moss ball, and the Moss & Green describes it as a style of bonsai built around that ball. Roots sit in a compact soil core, the core is wrapped in sheet moss and bound with string, and the finished sphere rests on a small dish or hangs from a cord. The look is softer than a classic pot-grown bonsai, with no visible rim and the trunk rising straight out of green.

Carroll frames the practice through two ideas she grew up with. One is the Shinto sense that people and nature are part of the same whole. The other is the Zen phrase she quotes on the shop's About page, Ima, Koko, meaning now, here. In practical terms it means a plant you handle every week, which is a different relationship from a tree you only water when the soil looks dry.

The Moss & Green keeps its price list short and readable. Small kokedama such as the Green Peperomia and the Autumn Fern sit at $64, while the feathery Asparagus Fern Sprengeri and Asparagus Fern Plumosus kokedama are $69 each. A Staghorn fern kokedama runs $68, and the Pink Quill, a bromeliad with a flat pink bract, is $88.

The true bonsai pieces climb from there. A Golden Gate Ficus Bonsai kokedama is listed at $248, and the same ficus planted in a glazed YAYA Black, Dawn or Ocean planter is $298. A Ginseng Ficus Bonsai, the one with the swollen root trunk that looks like a knot of driftwood, is $248 in a YAYA planter. For a smaller gift, a Mini Asparagus Fern Bonsai in a Japanese blue porcelain pot is $74.

The storefront posts that it is open every day. Standard hours are 1 pm to 7 pm, and Saturday stretches a little wider, from 12:30 pm to 7:30 pm. The late opening suits the neighborhood, since Williamsburg's North Side wakes up slowly and the shop sits a block off the busier Bedford Avenue strip.

Contact runs through email at connect@themossandgreen.com rather than a published phone line, so questions about a particular plant are best sent before the trip.

The shop's own care sheet is simple. Once a week, soak the kokedama in room-temperature water until the roots are fully saturated, then lift it out, gently squeeze and reshape the moss, and let it drip dry before returning it to its spot. That weekly bath replaces the watering can, and it is the single habit that decides whether a moss ball lives for years or browns by midwinter.

If your apartment air is dry, as many radiator-heated Brooklyn walk-ups are in January, the shop suggests misting the leaves with a fine spray. Do it in the morning, when the light is gentle, so the plant is not burned. Keep the moss ball on its dish rather than directly on wood furniture, because it will drip for a while after each soak. A useful test between baths is weight: a freshly soaked ball feels heavy in the palm, and once it feels noticeably light the roots are ready for the next soak, even if the calendar says a few days early.

Plants are only part of the inventory. The Moss & Green also sells Japanese tea, tea products, dishes and planters, so the counter doubles as a small design shop. The ceramic planters are the same YAYA pieces used for the ficus bonsai, sold empty for anyone who already has a tree and wants a new home for it.

That mix makes the shop easy for gift buyers, since a moss ball with a matching dish and a tin of Japanese tea is a complete present. Several plants, including the Ponytail Palm Tree kokedama at $88 and the Bromeliad kokedama at $78, are marked sold out online, so stock turns over and the shelf you see in person can differ from the website.

From North 9th Street, head west toward the river and you reach Marsha P. Johnson State Park on Kent Avenue, a grassy waterfront lot with a clear view of the Midtown skyline across the East River. It is a good place to sit with your purchase before carrying it home, provided you keep the moss ball in its bag and out of direct sun.

Going the other direction, McCarren Park opens up a few blocks north and east, with its running track and the restored McCarren pool building. Bedford Avenue itself is the spine of the walk, lined with record stores, cafes and bookshops, and the Bedford Avenue L station at North 7th Street makes this an easy loop from Manhattan, only one stop past the river.

Address: The Moss & Green, 169 N 9th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249, in Williamsburg. Hours: open every day 1 pm to 7 pm, Saturday 12:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Email: connect@themossandgreen.com. Kokedama start at $64, and ficus bonsai range up to $298 in a YAYA planter. No returns or exchanges, so inspect the moss for even color before you pay. For other plant and bonsai counters on the North Side, ask Karpo in the Karpo APP.