A Rainy Weekend...

...is perfect for staying inside. NOT!

I had plans to stay inside and bake Christmas cookies on Saturday and do some of the holiday decorating (which means a little pre-decorating cleaning, which is not one of my favorite things). Oh, the best laid plans and all that...

On Saturday morning while I was reading email--a task I had been neglecting of late--I discovered that there was an Master Gardener board meeting at 9:30 that morning! Good thing I get up early. I have been elected to the board for 2011-12 and did not technically have to attend this meeting, but new board members were asked to attend the last two meetings of the year to get oriented and I had missed the prior one due to a Stanford game. I really felt like I needed to go. I was glad I had time to load Tap* in the backseat of the truck and head down the road to the the meeting. When the meeting was over at 11:00 I decided I was too close to my almost local native plant nursery (Native Revival in Aptos) not to check out their winter sale!

At the sale I got a couple more wax myrtles and another toyon for the hedge row that I am planting along the edges of the "grounds." I got two female coyote bushes with seed heads so I will be planting these and trying to propagate their offspring. I also found a couple of penstemon spectabilis that seemed like a perfect choice for the front yard bed I am planting along the side between the driveway and the neighbors. I (and the bees) love the one I have in the back and have been unable to propagate it. I also haven't seen them in nurseries. The bed along the driveway already has some low 'Rosy Dawn' manzanita and a 'John Dourly' manzanita in the sunny portion and under the shade along the fence there are both currants (3) and twinberry (2). Both types are from my propagation efforts--I love free plants!

When I got home the rain had stopped (or maybe hadn't started yet--it was raining as I shopped in Aptos) and I worked on getting things into the ground. I didn't get them all in, but made a pretty good start since I didn't stop when the rain started. I always feel so strange watering my newly planted plants when it is raining, but I feel like they need a good drenching when I first put them in and there is no guarantee that the rain will be enough for their first watering. As a result, I am probably known as the crazy woman in my neighborhood who is out gardening and watering plants in the rain! At least I have a big, wide garden hat to keep the rain off my glasses! Maybe it also disguises me from students who might walk or drive by!

I did spend yesterday inside with the vacuum and some of the Christmas decorations are now up. The rest are in the boxes that have been brought out of storage and sit ready to use. Now I need a quiet day at work to rest!

*Tap, who turned 15 in May, was having a difficult morning. She was extremely wobbly and was needing help to get up. Just to ease your minds, yesterday she was up and around and even walking up and down the stairs. It turns out just to have been an isolated bad day. I'm sure they will continue to happen and get more and more frequent, but for now she is back up and around.