there are texture paints. walmart has some but Michael's has a good selection. you can get the granite look or the coppery kind...i believe you can even get a copper verdis color. i did a house number sign about 3 summers ago and used the texture stone flecked color spray from michaels. i think its krylon. i sprayed acrylic sealer over it and it has held up well.

There are 'recipes' you can use to encourage moss growth on concrete. I think they include things like yogurt or buttermilk (or beer!) and sugar blended with some moss that you find from elsewhere in your yard, and then paint it on the concrete. Or you could use some spray adhesive and sphagnum moss - I did that with some plastic pots, and it worked ok, but didn't last forever! Perhaps a combination of both - use the adhesive/sphagnum until the real moss can take over?

Sheryll

Here is a link that might be useful: moss recipe

I think moss would look great, I think you can buy it in sheets. I think I saw on Martha Stewarts website that you can paint things with a mixture of buttermilk and yogurt and it will grow moss. I have a brick pathway that is covered in moss (it is shady and damp). I pull it up in sheets and move it around, I used it in my planted fishbowls as a matter of fact. In the mean time maybe a cleverly done paint job with a sponge might help.
Frou

Thanks so much for the help ladies! I think I might give this moss recipe a try....sounds very interesting.

I was thinking like froufrou, too, Marlene...I'd leave it the color it is & then just take some of those oval sponge thing-ies that you spongepaint with...and dip them in some shades of green paint/maybe black/dark blue (outdoor paint)...& then dab ALOT on newspaper before you "spongepaint" on the cinderblock.

I put sphagnum moss in my copper kettle around a couple terracotta pots I have sitting in it...the only trouble is all the rain always is knocking it down & kind of moldy-looking...ugh!

Just LOVE your new (old) fountain! I mentioned "tropical plants" in other post...just think they look cool with water features...even potted Caldium (if spot is semi-shady enough). Have fun! Jeanne S.

I have a ton of moss growing in different areas of my garden...I wish I could send you some!

I had a friend who painted her front steps to look like cobble stone. She just used excess paints that she had around and then sealed to with an outdoor sealer. It lasted for several years...was still pretty long after she moved out of the house.

I would suggest you pose this question in the hypertufa forum. I'll be using 'tufa to cover up the cinderblock stands for rain barrels in the future.

My DS just put in new 4 ft wide 12 ft long steps in front of his home. It is cement that he rolled the edges so it looks old world & it will have tiled raisers??? the tops of the steps & rolled edge will be stained as soon as the cement is cured. So you might check out cement stains that you apply to existing cement. It might give you a great look. Jan

You can use wood stain to color cinder blocks. You can get a reddish/rust/Tuscany clayish tint depending on the stain you choose. Be sure to experiment on some old chunks of concrete beforehand.
Also,(a trick I learned over on the 'tufa forum),use straight Portland cement and water to make a thin slurry. Spread the slurry over the surface of the cement blocks to fill the all the little holes and smooth the surface. While the surface is still damp mix more Portland cement in the slurry to make a thickish paste. Use this like stucco or plaster to put a texture on the surface. Allow to cure completely.

I was going to mention hypertufa as well like Lizard did. I have been investigating hypertufa a lot lately. I also have seen where they mix the buttermilk and moss into the hypertufa mix. You could use hypertufa to cover the cinderblocks. You could use also cement to cover the cinderblocks...and then use the paints to age it.

Check out a product called Surface Bonding Cement. It is designed to go over concrete block like a stucco or adobe. Then you can age it with paint. Moss is hard to control and sometimes it looks like mold as was mentioned before.