Urban Farmer

Phantom is a feral cat on an urban farm in downtown Silver Spring, MD. Note the tipped ear. Lynn Koiner says, "He and his brother, Spirit, are part of a local trap-and-release program. They keep down the rodent and rabbit population on the one-acre farm." To learn more about the Koiners urban farm, go here.

Simply Ginger

Janet Draper, a Smithsonian Horticulturist, said:

"Her name is Ginger, and we got her as a stray-- someone moved out of a colleagues apartment complex and left her. (Outrageous!) So she should be about....12?  She is our Adventure Kitty. She is an indoor-outdoor girl. Ginger loves hanging outside--even in the rain! (She then wants to come in and sit on your lap to suck your heat/dry off!) She comes (when she feels like it) when we whistle.
   "Oh, because of her great hunting abilities--she wears numerous bells, plus a funky clown ruff-type collar that supposedly makes me more visible to birds.
   "She loves to have her belly in the sun -often she will fall asleep on the back deck in a position like this." (See photo below.)
  "What else? She loves longing in our front yard prairie especially in the grasses! So that is Ginger!"

Whiling away the hours with Wyler

Kendra Meinert is an entertainment writer, Zone 5 gardener and occasional garden columnist in Green Bay, WI. You can find her @KendraMeinert on Instagram and Twitter.

She shared this gorgeous image and said, "The cat lounging beneath my tree peony, like it was grown just for him, is Wyler. He's 11 and was adopted from the local shelter 10 years ago. He's 15 pounds of friendly. Everybody loves Wyler -- kind of a goofball, life-of-the-party type. If I'm out in the gardens, so is he (and his younger counterpart, Derby). He's  been known to chase a chipmunk up a downspout, but mostly he's really good at finding just the right spot for sprawling out to keep an eye on the gardens or catch a nap. In the heat of summer, you'll find him under the shade of the big leaves of a 'Sum and Substance' hosta. And in winter ... patiently waiting for another gardening season to arrive." 

Puss 'n Boots

Shawna Coronado of ShawnaCoronado.com shared this photo:

"We no longer have pets inside our house, so I was really thankful to have a surprise visitor wander in the garden while I was weeding today. I call her Boots, but have no idea who owns the little sweetheart, but she has captured my soul with her snaggletooth smile."