Took this on my Canon S2 IS Powershot the morning after a rain shower.

Our TV-FREE initiative started last Tuesday and is going well.  The kids have been busy enough with other activities and events that they haven’t really had time to complain. Over the weekend, we decided to let each of our girls take ownership of their own garden bed, to plant, water and care for as they see fit. We took a trip over the our local garden center let them pick out some plants and came home with 150 annual seedlings.  Phyllis and the girls fortified the beds with peat moss and composted cow manure and managed to plant all the seedlings (with a handful left over for containers).

Last spring, during a visit to a friend’s house, I had noticed that they had salvia planted in a perennial bed along their driveway and it was covered with bees.  I made a mental note that this would be a good plant to tuck into my garden to attract more bees. During the summer months and into the fall I kept noticing that bees are attracted to tall, spiky flowers. I looked in vain for a nice perennial salvia but could only find annual varieties. This month, I found what I was looking for at Lowes.

(photos  and variety info to follow)