there is a rule from a designer of “ecological landscapes” that I had the good fortune to have classes from - he calls it the P3 rule…
at any given time only three species are blooming or otherwise dominating a planting.. it really does mimic what we often see in the “wild”. Clumps of species make this happen more often than not within a matrix of grasses, sedges or ferns. There might be up to 30 species of plants in the planting, just no more than 3 blooming full on at one time. My most amazing recent experience was at Iceberg Point one May day when it was a mass of death camas and eriophyllum - the third thing might have been purple sanicle or an allium.. both were there but not enough to make a showing.. but with care I think an awesome combo.
I am excited about the possibilities for home gardens and public spaces to explore how we might use ( a broad palette) PNW and West Coast forb, geophytes, grasses, small shrubs, ferns to show off how this might be done and attract more people to growing natives or some natives. Many many plants play well together!