Saturday, September 26, 2015

You can call me Ray, you can call me Jay…


Janet Loughrey recently shared this photo of "Raymond in my garden at dusk." Janet explained, "He's not my cat. He just hangs out in my yard with my cat, Tonka. They are buddies. I don't even know his name; I just call him Raymond because he needed to be called something." Her own cat, Tonka, was "just behind me supervising my photo skills."
 
You can see more of Janet's beautiful photography at http://www.loughreyphoto.com/Site/Home.html.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

A True Garden Companion


 Rob Chambon of Bicknell, Indiana, USA, recently posted this lovely essay about his late cat to his Facebook page and agreed to share it here as well.

Rob wrote: "Cabbie Girl, my faithful and loving companion, is gone. She has left me today to pass into another realm where, in the words of a beloved friend, she is now running freely amidst butterflies and fields of beautiful wildflowers, forever without end. She came to me in the fall of 2007, abandoned by her previous owners. I don't know if I found her, or she found me, but either way, she touched me deeply. Cabbie filled a void in my life for all those glorious years she stayed here with me, often times running out to greet my car as it turned into the driveway. I could always count on her being near at all times, sleeping as she usually did, on my deck beneath the lights of my tree.

"Countless times over the years, Cabbie would follow me into my woodland garden, waiting patiently for me, while I toiled away at building another section or adding more plants. She was there almost from the very beginning, seeing for herself how the garden was expanding, and often times giving her a new place to roam. I'd turn and see here there, lying on a rotting log, or resting on a cut up tree stump watching me and waiting to once again follow me out of the woods when I was through. I shall miss those moments forever.

"It's truly amazing how much we can be so touched by loving animals like this. They give us unconditional love and fill voids in our lives like nothing else can. Cabbie, I am so very blessed with your presence these past nine years, but it was time to let you go, dear girl. And so, with that said, I finish this message, with tears in my eyes, saying goodbye one last time to the finest pet a guy like me could ever have. Goodbye dear girl, my beloved Cabbie. I love you so much and miss you terribly. You are free now."


Saturday, September 12, 2015

Pumpkin Spice


This is Pumpkin. He is one of four cats that lives at the home of a lovely lady in Brandywine. MD. She hosted a  Mount Airy Clay Breakers Garden Club meeting at her home which I gave a talk at about "Getting Your Garden Ready for Winter."

Pumpkin is about five-years-old and is a bit shy. He prefers the company of other cats to people, but don't we all sometimes?

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Warning: Invasive Species


Thanksgiving Farmshttp://thanksgivingfarmandgarden.com/ is a 57-acre family-run farm in Adamstown, MD. We have a 40+ greenhouse operation. Specializing in the unusual, CSA, produce, and orchard. 
 
They recently shared this photo and warning on their Facebook page:
 
"Cat-nap -- it's very invasive. Grows in sun or shade depending on the season. You don't plant it, it plants itself and that is usually on the most expensive flower in your garden and/or container. Hungry feeder and likes lots of water. Has briars/claws. Also comes in Dog-nap. This variety is much larger, with more destruction. The Dog-nap has a tendency to uproot vegetation in order to plant it's self. Both can/should be transplanted indoors to overwinter."