I wanted to garden Saturday and Sunday, but Real Life intervened with piles of laundry needing to be washed (we were in danger of running out of any clean clothes to wear at all), and several errands to be run. Why do 3 errands end up taking 4 hours to complete???

But I got out in the garden today. I told myself I just needed to plant the native plants into the area under the Doug Fir. Spent a lot of time figuring out what to put where. Then dug holes and stuffed plants into them. Oddly, I thought I had 3 red flowering currents, but could find only 1 pot. Must have given the others away, by accident, I thought. So I jumped into the car and headed for Furneys Nursery. Well, darn, they had only 2 gallon pots of Ribes, good sized plants. Okay, I bought 2. The little gallon pot I had in reserve would just look pitiful for a while, next to the larger, lusher plants. Got home, put the new plants in, and got ready to plant the little gallon pot. Oooops. There WERE 3 RED FLOWERING CURRENTS IN THERE! I'd planted them in pots and heeled them into the ground during the cold, freezing weather. I ran out of pots, so I doubled up small plants into 1 pot, knowing I'd plant them later in the spring. So I didn't need to buy the 2 new ones. It's okay . . . I'll plant the remaining 2 in back. Red Flowering Current is a good plant to have anywhere. Moved a couple of Mahonia aquifolium, and some sword ferns, got 2 evergreen huckleberries planted. Right now, that area has 2 serviceberry (new), 2 red twig dogwood (established), 3 sword fern (established, but relocated), 2 evergreen huckleberries (new), 3 red flowering currents (2 are very new, sigh . . . ).

Still felt energetic, so I brought out the plants that arrived by mail order last month (or early this month, I forget). Planted 3 Agastache and 3 Campanula in the little tiered garden in front. Took out the never-done-well-there Idaho Fescue to make room for the Campanula. The fescue will be compost. Planted Lavandula "Blue Cushion" in the Blue Garden, to replace the Clematis that I bought last year, and may have survived all of 8 weeks. Lavender I CAN grow! Planted Veronica "Darwin's Blue" in the Blue Garden. Planted 3 Heuchera "Canyon Something" along the drive, where Kinnikinnik won't survive. Dusted off my hands, started putting tools away, and then remembered I had one mail order plant left: Clematis "Guernsey Cream". Whatever possessed me to buy another Clematis, I have no idea. Every Clemmie that has ever come home with me has croaked, cashed in its chips, and gone to Clematis Heaven. My record for keeping a Clematis alive is 2 years, and that was an Armandii, which I'm told are well-nigh indestructable. No wonder it lived so long in my care. So here I am with another Clematis to try to keep alive. The poor thing is so small and tender-looking. I'm hoping it's really something out of the "Little Shop of Horrors", with thuggish tendencies and dreams of taking over the world. If so, it may last 2 or 3 years before sucumbing to the Curse Of The Clematis I seem to put on them all.

I still have 1 beaked hazelnut, the 2 Ribes, a Cascara (which may not have survived--no leaves, and some tips are turning gray) to plant.

I had 2 extra Shore Pines, and before I left for Furney's I put them out by the road with a "Free" sign. When I got back an hour later, they were both gone. That's been a favorite method of mine to get rid of unwanted plants--it always works! I'm keeping 1 shore pine as insurance, in case the one in the ground doesn't suvive the snapping of the taproot earlier this year.

I'm visiting my mom in Arizona for a week, starting Wednesday. I want to get as much yardwork done as I can, at least as far as planting things. Weeding will have to wait till I get back, unfortunately.

Hoping for more good weather tomorrow!