Paradise in the gardening sense is akin to a native ecosystem- plants living together in harmony through long association, each plant becoming part of a delicate balance where none run amok. I see this in woodlands or prairies where no alien species have been brought in. Here is an example from the woods by my property, which was at one point old growth mixed forest, predominately Western Red Cedar, Douglas Fir, and Bigleaf Maple.
The ground is carpeted with delicate little spring plants, many of them ephemeral. The flowers at the base of the large tree are Trilliums, which can develope into large clumps, and slowly age to a deep magenta.
Delicate little flowers like Miner's Lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata, and Spring Beauty, Claytonia sibirica, rise in spring in a delicate assemblage, here with Tellima grandiflora, Fringe Cup, which persists through the year.
Even though the former owners of my property logged out the Douglas Firs, and did their best to obliterate the native plants with a covering of grass, little pockets of the natives remain, and surprisingly, when the grass is removed or buried in deep mulch, the tiny delicate plants can spring forth once again from their reserves of seed in the earth, as in the Miner's Lettuce here at the base of an apple tree.
I enjoy spending some of my gardening time trying to bring back or increase some of the native plants still present in remote corners of the yard. Here is an area where native Oregon Holly Grape, Mahonia aquifolium, has become buried beneath Himalayan berry vines and other weedy growth, I can repost later when I have done some work on clearing it away. My photos were taken by me on a Canon Powershot a530 digital camera.
-Hannah
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