It's finally here! In spite of the rather mild winter we have had here in Solano County, it's nice to herald the arrival of March and the coming of spring. We are almost ready to close the book on another winter, but we do still have a few more weeks of "official" frost season. That said, it is just so hard to see the daffodils blooming, the blossoms on the flowering trees in my backyard, and not go outside and put in a whole batch of new plants. I am holding off, however, until the official beginning of spring (March 20th this year). After that date, I'm willing to take a gamble and start planting.

This year I have a whole new learning curve to work with. Up until recently, my gardens were full sun for the better part of the day. I have three flowering plum trees ('Krauter Vesuvius') in my garden that have been growing larger every year. Last summer, I noticed several roses, pineapple sage, society garlic, and coreopsis 'Moonbeam' were trying to reach for more sunlight, and it dawned on me that they were receiving more shade than sun. Now I am having to decide what to move, what to shovel prune, and what to plant in shade. I never had to shop for shade plants, and now here I am, researching and planning a whole new garden!

I am actually a little excited about some of the plants I have found. Camellias, columbines, Chinese lanterns, Japanese maples, liriope, bleeding heart are just a few of the plants I've never grown before and now have the opportunity to do so. We are so fortunate to have the resources offered to us on the California Garden Web (www.ucanr.org/sites/gardenweb) for gardening in the Golden State.

It just goes to show you that a gardeners work is never done!