April Showers...

Ellie's home sick from school today.  I think she has that same fever that Olivia had a week ago.  Hopefully the fever stays down and her headache goes away so she can go back to school tomorrow.  I hope that, but it WAS fun having her here.  I missed her this year.  Vince did too.  When the clouds rolled in and he thunder started to rumble, she and Vince put on snow boots (because what else would you put on to wear in a thunderstorm?) and ran outside to dance in the rain.  "April Showers, Bring May Flowers!" Vince chanted.  I didn't know he knew that saying, but apparently he picked it up somewhere.  He's right.  I was glad to see the rain today, hoping that it would help bring out more green in my yard.  (Not the weeds though, of course!)

We stopped in to see my dad at his office today and drove by the nursery, which made me think about my garden, but also my flowers.  I know that Ellie is really excited about picking flowers and since part of the reason I do my gardening is for my kids, and I'd like to do more with them and my gardening, I want to try to include her in planning the flowers that will go in our beds in the front.  We don't have a ton of room for flowers, since most of our beds are taken up by shrubs and trees, but there are a few little places where I could spruce it up with some flowers.  Last year I picked the kind of flower and let Ellie pick the color.  We ended up with all bright pink--surprise.  This year I need to go with a different kind of flower, my choice last year didn't really thrive like I wanted it to.  So instead of dragging all the kids to the nursery, standing there and reading each tag to see if it's full or partial sun, then determining what and how many...I thought I'd check it out online first.  I love to go to the store prepared.  So I'm on the lookout for suggestions for pretty, bright colored flowers to go in my front yard.   Thoughts?