Driving around town yesterday morning, I was struck at the number of cars and trucks heading home with BIG planting items on board ... trees and large shrubs, and plants that nobody would have dared think about planting a month ago.

I have always believed that trying to conserve water while deep in the midst of a drought was like closing the barn door after the horse gets out. But some communities have recently begun to lift or ease up on water restrictions as a result of recent rain. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that yet; for me, the jury's still out. (And for me, I'm going to concentrate on clearing out my garden beds while I gather information on "smart" planting ... then if the rain is still prevalent, I'll begin planting.)

On the one hand, I'm chomping at the bit to get back out in the garden. Mine is begging to be cleaned out and rebuilt. But on the other, I come back to the fact that: "water makes up 85 percent of our blood, 80 percent of our muscles, and 75 percent of our brains ... it regulates body temperature, transports nutrients, and removes impurities ... we can't survive without it." (Cooking Light, July 2007) Even as an avid gardener, I'd rather have water to nourish my family than keep my garden green.

I thought we'd spend the next week or two looking at plants that would work to revitalize our waning gardens, while at the same time not shifting the balance of recent rainfall back into the dangerous proportions. So let's start with a couple of easy questions:

• With the recent temperate, sunny weather, have you started replanting in your garden?
• Are you holding off until later in the spring, when it looks like current rainy weather will continue?
• Have you got an idea of what plants you'll be adding to your landscape this season?