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:

hippo! and tomatoes almost ready

My garden got a Christmas present.  The bird bath is a bit deep for smaller birds like the thornbills.  You can just put a rock in the bird path but I had my eye on this handsome chappy at the garden shop, and after a little hint it was under the Christmas tree.  The splashes along the rim are evidence that a bird has already used the bath.

The tomatoes are almost ready for eating.  The first Tommy Toe is turning red!

I'm having a bit of trouble with the rogue de marmande.  It set a bunch of healthy fruit early on.  I've lost about 4 to caterpillars, and in the last few weeks almost every blossom has dropped instead of setting fruit.  And now, I've lost one to blossom end rot.

BER usually happens with inconsistent watering and I think that's the culprit.  The RdM is at the front of the planter, closer to the hot sun, and the plant often looks wilted.  I didn't want to over-water, since the Tommy Toe never looked wilted.  But after dropping blossoms and getting BER, I'm now pretty certain I have to keep the water up more.

bird bath!

Yesterday after some summer thunderstorms we had some visitors. The lorikeets usually only visit when the figs are ripe, but they were drinking from the gutter of our neighbour's garage. From inside the house I could get close enough to take this video.

I was particularly excited because I'd asked for a bird bath for my birthday. Surely if they'll come this close to drink from the gutter, they'll come down to use my bird bath? And sure enough, I got a bird bath that very night from Tom's parents.

I just love it. A nice earthy colour, simple in shape but with a lovely texture to it. It suits its surroundings nicely, it's not gaudy or woggy. I can't wait for the birds and bees to discover it!

For some added enjoyment, here's a close up of the stella bella daylilies growing near the bird bath. I might plant a few more of these around the bird bath, once they got over their aphid invasion in the autumn they've proven to be great hardy little plants.