Re: interesting...

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It's magical when that happens.

One of the gardens on the first Going Native Garden Tour had been a weedy half-acre front yard for over 50 years, burned or mowed annually for many years to control the overgrowth. Then, about 8 years before the tour, the owner started weeding selectively (before the weeds went to seed) instead of burning or mowing, and native wildflowers started to flourish! Early-spring carpets of native yellow buttercups and purple johnny-jump-ups, with scattered purple sanicle and other wildflowers, were followed by brodiaeas, mariposa tulips, purple needlegrass, wild rye, and soaproot. The overstory was blue oaks, coast live oaks, and buckeyes, and it had never been rototilled. Woody shrubs native to the site included blue elderberry, coyote brush, toyon, fuchsia-flowering gooseberry, and (of course) poison oak. Each year took less weeding, so she started working on her neighbor's yard as well. Here are the other plants that were native to the site (in Los Gatos, Calif.):

Snakeroot sanicle, Sanicula crassicaulis
Purple sanicle, Sanicula bipinnatifida
Blue-eyed grass, Sisyrinchium bellum
Yellow mariposa lily, Calochortus sp.
Wavy soaproot, Chlorogalum pomeridianum
Woodmint, Stachys sp.
Wild cucumber, Marah fabaceus
Miner's lettuce, Claytonia (Montia) perfoliata
California buttercup, Ranunculus californicus
Ithuriel's spear, Triteleia laxa
Harvest brodiaea, Brodiaea elegans
White hyacinth, Triteleia hyacinthina
Yellow johnny-jump-up, Viola pedunculata
Yampah, Perideridia sp.
Douglas iris, Iris douglasiana
Sticky monkeyflower, Mimulus sp.

Oak mistletoe, Phoradendron villosum

Native rye, Elymus glaucus
Purple needlegrass, Nassella (Stipa) pulchra

Sedges, Carex spp.

Goldback fern, Pentagramma triangularis