Dear All: There is a style in the English tradition which is sometimes called the "paradise garden". Such gardens are characterized by lush growth and as broad a selection of taxa as the climate allows. Among gardeners, the word "paradisiacal" is usually meant in a complimentary sense. Many of us aspire to an Edenic ideal in planting our gardens. However seemingly successful such efforts are, there will almost always be something fundamental missing. No, I'm not alluding to the two historically-correct resident nudists. I'm talking about snakes. In my opinion, a garden without snakes is not much of a garden. My garden is managed somewhat like a nature preserve: a really fascinating selection of the local fauna either visits or resides in the garden. Human visitors sometimes make only the most half-hearted attempts at euphemism when commenting on the garden: the words "wild" and "jungle" are sometimes used. Among the visiting and resident ambassadors of the local fauna are snakes. Five species are sighted several times a year. This year I was beginning to wonder if we would have any snakes - none had been seen in April or May. But yesterday I spotted a garter snake under the blooming Dracunculus, and later in the day a hefty black rat snake stretched out in broad sunlight on the winter jasmine by the front door under the mailbox. The mailman was not amused! Neither was I when we almost didn't get our mail. For those of you who do not suffer from ophidiophobia, I've added some snake shots to the wiki. I was tempted to sneak them in on the Sansevieria page (snake plant in American vernacular) or among the pictures of Fritillaria meleagris (the snake's head frit), maybe on a future Ophiopogon page or some such mischief. Instead, I've let them wiggle in on the Places page, where I hope to post some views from my garden eventually. Take a look at: http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… To get this post past the gatekeeper, I suppose I have to provide a geophyte connection. Here it is: the black snake is part of my integrated pest management program. It eats voles which would otherwise eat my tulips. The garter snake is just along for the ride. They're both great for getting rid of boring visitors, although they're not reliable about appearing on command. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where I'm still trying to figure out how to attract those two historically-correct nudists to my little Eden. BTW, happy Father's Day, father of us all Adam