What inspires?... part 2

As I sit here looking out my window at a snowy city, listening to a truck plowing the parking lot near by, I look at this photo and think back to that beautiful spring day when I stumbled upon these red trilliums and snapped a shot of them.

In Nature, everything is simple yet so complex! Looking at these red trilliums you may think they are a nice little bunch of flowers growing in the wild....would look nice in my backyard garden! The underlying fact is that in order for those flowers to grow in that spot, a big tree first had to grow in the space and probably lived for about 70 years...

After many years of enjoying its life in the forest, the tree died and eventually a few years later, it toppled over. The stump that was left behind began to do what is natural, break down into basic nutrients and return to the soil.

The end result... moss now covers the rotted wood, the surrounding soil is in an acidic state due to the wood's decomposition in the wet humus of the forest. With the conditions of the soil being just right, the Red trilliums decided to grow... aiding further in the decomposition of the stump.

Understanding the delicate construction and composition of soil will help anyone to become an excellent gardener. Knowing how Nature does it is part of what inspires me to design....