Kitty Break for the Holidays

Hi all -

Cats in Gardens is on a holiday break. Check back in right after the New Year for many new installments.

Meanwhile, if you have a photo to share of a cat in a garden setting here is how.

Happy Holidays!

Cat of La Mancha

Through the Garden

Our pet cat Mancha exploring our back yard, at age 10 months.

By Jay Woodworth of Brooklyn, NY, flickr.com/creativecommons.

Cat Gaze

Our 12 year old showing that she is maturing with dignity (either that or she has spotted a bird!!!)

By Skyvixen, flickr.com/creativecommons.

Autumn Eyes

Cat Willum.
By jans canon, flickr.com/creativecommons.

Garden Journal

Garden journal, June 1993

Backyard,June 1993, London, Ontario, Canada. Our old cat, Sam.

By Andrea_44, flickr.com/creativecommons.

Cat Raspberry

The youngest of our cats showing that even at 6 years old he can still act like a kitten!

By Skyvixen, flickr.com/creativecommons.

Visiting Cat

This little cat likes to visit with my cat.
By jans canon, flicker.com/creativecommons

affordable tailless garden scarecat

Attention birds, squirrels, and rabbits: don't mess with the garden scarecat!

Photo by woodleywonderworks, flickr.com/creativecommons

Friendly Cat

Mrs Jean Friend and cat in a garden. Taken in 1939 in Beverly, NSW, Australia.

From the State Library of New South Wales collection - flickr.com/commons.

What are you looking at?

Photo taken by Stephen Jones. Posted at flickr.com/creativecommons.

This photo was taken on April 3, 2009 using a Fujifilm FinePix F20.

I Spy

Matahari on the prowl in the building garden in Mumbai.

Taken by Rudolph.A.Furtado.

Cats in Pots

Taken by Kate Jewell.

"Anywhere will do! Eaton cats asleep in the greenhouse."

Dual on the Snow

Senera shared this photo on the Wikipedia Commons. She has wonderful cat photo albums posted at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zenera/sets/.

In this photo, she says: "Saphiri on the right showing the "new bad cat" that it's her garden...;) NBC is shut out of her house day and night, is very lonely, always hanging around causing trouble, I feel so sorry for her (him) he just wants love and company, it is very important for animals to have companions....unfortunately ours are very territorial, and NBC is vicious."

Cats in Garden Art part 2

Part 2 in the Cats in Gardens portrayed in art series.

This is "Young Girl with Cat" by Nicola Marschall. It dates to 1859 and is in the collection of the Morris Museum of Art, Georgia.

This youg cat is clearly not happy about sitting for a portrait and the young girl herself looks on the edge of wildness, just barely keeping it together. The garden itself is an interesting mix as well-- a carefully arranged urn of cut flowers with a shrub border to the rear.

Companiable Contemplation

Sammy (dog) and Maumi (cat) in the garden.
Taken by "BUHR" in their own garden.

Cats in Garden Art part 1

This is the first in a series of cats in gardens portrayed by artist throughout the ages.
The garden cat above is "Gukjeong chumyo" (Autumn cat in a garden with chrysanthemum) painted by Byeon Sang-byeok. Thought to date from 1730.

There is something very intriguing about this cat's face. Why do you think he is smiling?

Allotment Cat

This shot was taken in the UK by Evelyn Simak.

"Here she is again spotted earlier whilst walking along Mundesley Road, The cat is about to enter the adjoining allotment gardens."

In the US, we call allotments "community gardens."

The community garden I rent a space at has a very strict "no pets" policy. Though there is a tiger stray that I have seen hunting there at night. Way to shy for me to catch on camera, though not for lack of trying!

Watch Out for that Tale!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharee Solow of Elkins Park, PA, sent in this photo of KK.

 

"Fairies and Gnomes will be removed by the mountain lion," commented Sharee.

Feline Mulch

Joseph Tychonievich of http://www.greensparrowgardens.com/ sent in this picture of his cat Smudge that he took in his garden in Lansing, Michigan.

Joseph comments, "Smudge is always very, very interested in my doings in the garden, follows me around, begs for belly rubs while I'm weeding, and, on this day decided to take on the role of mulch for my rosemary standard with his very own body."

Santino. My Bambino

This is my two-year-old Maine Coon, Santino. He is leash-trained and loves to go outside with me as I garden. (His "brother," Versace, is the exact opposite, but maybe I'll be able to share a garden photo of him one day soon.) Santino's favorite spot is this worn bench next to my small pond. He makes a bee-line for it whenever we go out.

Here is another of Santino. He is being a "bad boy" chewing on my variegated liriope.

Why is No One Rubbing My Tummy?



Belin





















This was taken at Longwood Gardens by Diana Wind. Diana is a gardening chef and registered dietitian in New Jersey. She also submitted a homeless cat image from her garden a few days ago. She can be found on Twitter @GardenCuizine. Her food blog is at http://gardencuizine.com/.

I did a little googling and found out the cat's name is Belin and this is his favorite chair in the Peirce-du Pont house conservatory. He has been photographed  in it by many visitors to Longwood. According to Longwood's own blog, Belin is one of 11 cats that patrol this wonderful public garden. “Belin” (pronounced BEE-lin) is Ms. Alice du Pont’s maiden name.

I can't wait to visit Belin and the other 10 garden cats myself next month on a daytrip tour to see Longwood's holiday extravaganza. If you'd like to join me on the tour, see the full trip details here.

Blue-Eyes and Orange Bowl

Cloud

Rochelle Bartolomei, Executive Director, Chesapeake Natives, has submitted another cat. She showed us this one last week. This blue-eyed charmer is Cloud and Rochelle let us know that she has 6 cats total, a big garden, and a husband who loves photography, so we are expecting more shares in the future.

Rochelle says, "My riff on this one is a la William Carlos Williams, 'so much depends upon, a siamese cat, glazed with rain water, beside the orange bowl.' "

Homeless Cats Need Love Too

Diana Wind, a gardening chef and registered dietitian in New Jersey, submitted this handsome cat. She can be found on Twitter @GardenCuizine. Her food blog is at http://gardencuizine.com/.

Diana said, "This is our latest garden visitor with clipped left ear." The clipped ear indicates that the cat has been trapped, spayed/neutered, and released (TNR).

Oh no! Not another cute cat!

Here is another gorgeous black cat from Kylee of  Our Little Acre:

OhNo showed up one wintry day last year and clearly hadn't seen a good meal in awhile. He was very shy and it took some time before he would let us get close. Now he's my shadow when I work in the garden, even jumping on my back as I crouch to do some planting or weeding. He has single white hairs peppered throughout his jet black coat, which you can't see unless you're up close.

How did he get his name? The Olympics were on and Apollo Ohno was skating when we decided this black stray cat wasn't going anywhere and needed a name. But to be honest, the name first came to us the very first time we saw him eating from our five other outside cats' food dishes: "Oh no! Not another cat!" But OhNo has become a treasured member of our fur family.

Presidential Cats, part 2

Even though my leanings are far left, I'm bipartisan in my cat affections, so I have to share with you all India, one of the pets of George W. and Laura Bush while they were in the White House. The family named her after the former Texas Ranger baseball player, Ruben Sierra, who was called "El Indio." Reportedly, "She likes to hide from her owners. Her favorite place to nap is under the bed and her favorite food is tuna-flavored kitty treats." Somehow India also got the nickname "Willie" - go figure.

Here are two photos of India posing in the West Garden Room of the White House - on a garden bench and with a plant.

Presidential Cats, part 1

The late Socks the cat, famous resident pet of the Clinton-era White House, is shown here in various garden settings.

Socks was adopted as a stray. He was definitely not camera-shy and made many public appearances. He is said to have especially loved children and the outdoor lifestyle.

He spent the last years of his life with Clinton's former secretary, Betty Currie, in Hollywood, MD.

Boo to You




Boo

 





Kylee Baumle, a fellow garden writer, sent in this striking image.

She said, "This is Boo on our front porch. The shrub is Euonymus alata. Boo is one of five kittens that were abandoned in a field near our house in 2004. We still have a sibling, Baby, and our daughter and her husband have another, Oreo. One was adopted out to a co-worker (Augie) and Luna watches over them all from kitty heaven, as she's done since 2010. Every member of this litter LOVES to have its belly scratched and will immediately do the "kitty melt" when you walk up to them, so you can oblige them."

You can follow Kylee's gardening adventures in northwest Ohio on her blog Our Little Acre.

After the Rain

Rockytop on rain barrel.

Rochelle Bartolomei, Executive Director of Chesapeake Natives, submitted this charming cat in a garden. She noted, "This is Rockytop, in the garden at my house in Forest Glen (Silver Spring, MD).  Rocky helps monitor the vole and field mouse population and keeps an eye on water levels in my rain barrel.  He is also my number one catnip tester."

Cat Salad



Gobi Salad
















Erica H. Smith of Germantown, MD, sent this one in. She said: "My husband built the salad table for me last year, and added a shelf at the bottom. I knew it would come in handy, and so apparently did my cat Gobi."

You can see more of Erica's gardening images at her two blogs:
Rogue Eggplant: http://rogue-eggplant.blogspot.com/
Grow It Eat It: http://www.groweat.blogspot.com/

BTW, if you are reading this post at the "Cats in Gardens" blog, you can click on any of the images to enlarge them to their original size. That way you get to see the kitties and the gardens in their full glory.

Cats Rule, Dogs Drool

No dogs allowed!

Here is one of my favorite photos of cats in a garden. I took this last year at the Capitol Hill garden tour in Washington, DC. I do not know the names of these brave kitties, but I know they deserve medals of valor for protecting their owner's garden from doggie mess.

How to Submit YOUR Cats in Gardens

Being enchanted by both cats and gardens, I decided to start this blog for fun to combine the beauty of both. I know that many of you share my interest in and I hope you will submit your own images of your cats in your gardens.

Here is how to submit your image:
- Email to Laserblast (at) aol (dot) com
- Put "Cats in Gardens" in the subject line
- Attach your image
- In the body of the email include:
  ~ your name or you can choose to be "anonymous"
  ~ the cat's name
  ~ where the photo was taken (city, state, country)
  ~ if you have a blog or web site you would like to be linked back to
  ~ a note about the cat or your garden or both, we love to hear your stories

Our First Cat in a Garden

Hi Cat and Garden Lovers -

Pictured here is my late cat, Chantilly, on one of her regular patrols in my Silver Spring, MD garden. She passed away February 2010 and I still miss her so much. She was such a sweet girl. I had her for 17 years.

Chantilly

I have adopted two new boy kitties and will be sharing their photos with you in the future.