Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Yearbook 2013: Your most favorite plant, flower, shrub, tree, 1 by Muddy1

Muddy1 wrote:
Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'. It doesn't do it full justice, but here's a photo: it's the tall plant in the back on the far right.

I bought one plant 3-4 years ago as an impulse buy and was so happy with it that I bought another last year. Deer don't touch it, insects barely touch it, and it's disease-free. Hummingbirds and bees love it. It blooms from late spring/early summer until frost eventually does it in - this photo was taken in late October.

My one disappointment was that the bumblebees seemed to drive away the hummingbirds. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad to see bees (even though they did take over one of my bird houses) - but I wanted to see hummers too.

I dead-headed the plants throughout the summer in spite of the bumblebees that were there all day long. I don't know whether dead-heading is necessary, but it was easy enough and I never got stung!