bird bath and the corner garden

This little corner of the garden is really coming along.  On the left we have the catnip patch which has gone crazy.  Once it's finished flowering I'm going to cut it back ruthlessly because it's crowding out the mint (yes there's mind under there somewhere).  But in the meantime the bees love it, and so does my cat when he remembers what it is.

Next along is the little gem magnolia tree with two stella bella daylilies.  In front of the birdbath is an African purple basil - it's an ornamental basil, not tasty enough for eating but it smells lovely and it covers in blossom. There's a bit of alyssum next to it that self-seeded, it's scattered itself around the garden.

Behind the bird bath is my new "tequila blue" salvia.  The one on the left is now in full bloom and I love that the blossoms drop into the bird bath where their blue colour lingers for an extra day or two.  The one on the right got snapped off somehow unfortunately so no blooms this year.  But next year it should be even taller and bushier, I want it to shield the birthbath a bit for the more timid birds.

Here's a close up of the salvia blooms.

I reckon it's come along beautifully from this time last year!  This is December 2008: