mouldering leaves, rocks with mosses...ribes bushes, very thorny.

What's not to like?

Wonderful colours Lori!

it's hard to see the ribes, it's common name is Dog Berry or prickly gooseberry Ribes cynosbati (?)
The ferns mostly Osmunda, I also have Pteridium, dryoptera, matteuccia, polypodium and onoclea.

Love it Lori

As nature intended ,you couldn't improve on that !

yes, Amy. everytime I think I've got the way of it...nature changes her stripes. I'm learning to stand back and let her have her way.

Lovely pic, nice rich colour too. Loving the shady spot planting.

What a great photo, so colourful.

thanks Kate and Siris! This is a north facing slope near the back door of our cottage/cabin. beside this there is a round berm (made by a bulldozer of a previous owner) which is totally covered in lily of the valley and Jack-in-the-Pulpit, ribes bushes ferns and moss covered rocks... it is magical... I think it was pre-existing garden topsoil, pushed into a small gully when they were building a septic filterbed and forgotten. When I removed the scrub trees that had grown up around it I saw the possibilities. There are so many interesting little nooks and crannies on our property. Not far from this spot there is a natural spring..where water seeps out between the mossy rocks and I've made a little pond/spring with ferns to be imported this spring, I hope. this little spot is where I'm going to make my moss garden.

Wow! This sounds so idyllic! True escapism! :)

I need to clone a couple more of me, kate. there are so many features to develop and I'm getting older by the day. First, we need to get rid of all this snow! roll on spring!