Suddenly Seymour!

This is Seymour. He is a neighbor's cat. Other than that he is fairly old and likes to watch the passing people from his porch perch, I don't know much more about him. I bet he has a lot of tales to tell! That face says it all.

A Visit to Walters Gardens Pt. 3 - Gray Shadow

One of the stops of the recent GardenComm annual meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was to Walters Gardens, a wholesale plant nursery, in Zeeland, MI. I shared images previously of the garden cats at Walters Gardens here. Last week, I shared a pretty black kitty here and two weeks ago, I shared images of a friendly tabby cat here.

This week, I'm sharing pics of a gray and white cat that was just a total lovebug. This kitty followed me around and demanded lots of head scratches and tummy rubs

A Visit to Walters Gardens Pt. 2 - Mama Panther

One of the stops of the recent GardenComm annual meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was to Walters Gardens, a wholesale plant nursery, in Zeeland, MI. I shared images previously of the garden cats at Walters Gardens here. Last week, I shared images of a friendly tabby cat here.

This week, I'm sharing pics of a sweet black kitty who ran out to greet me from behind a large hibiscus shrub. I think she was pregnant or maybe just bloated from a recent mouse hunt?

A Visit to Walters Gardens Pt. 1 - Tabby

One of the stops of the recent GardenComm annual meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was to Walters Gardens, a wholesale plant nursery, in Zeeland, MI.

I shared images previously of the garden cats at Walters Gardens here, so I knew there might be some kitties to visit with when we arrived on the tour bus that particular morning. It didn't take long for the cats to find us and I counted 3. I'll be sharing them individually over the next few weeks. Here is kitty #1 -- a very friendly tabby, who reminded me a lot of my own tabby, Fancy.

Young Blue Eyes

These three images of this Siamese cutie are by Robert Couse-Baker of Sacramento, California, USA. They were posted to PXhere.com. In the descriptive text, Robert writes: "Kitten got some Big Blue Room time today. She LOVED the birds."

At the Feet of a Hero

Washington Gardener Magazine intern Josh Panepento recently visited Puerto Rico and took this pic of a feral cat resting at the feet of the Abraham Lincoln statue in old San Juan. Notice the pots of Foxtail Fern (Asparagus densiflorus 'Meyersii') and palms nearby adding a touch of greenery.

Fern and the Redbuds

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A post shared by Maple & Fern 🐱 (@maplexfern)

Fern is a 3-year-old rescue cat adopted from the Prince Edward Island Humane Society in Canada, whose owners are veterinarians. Fern in leash-trained and, I believe, is a Maine Coon.

We share an Instagram video post of her sister, Maple, a few weeks back. You can see it here. 

See more videos and photos featuring Maple and Fern at https://www.instagram.com/maplexfern/

JoJo Kitty

Jojo is the spoiled kitty of Glenn and Karen Bell who live in the Del Webb Arbors retirement community in North Carolina. Jojo is a rescue and her human parents glassed in the porch so she can admire the gardens year-round. 

Her other favorite activity includes her daily supervised garden walk with her human dad to admire the visitors of the pocket pollinator garden designed by @gardenthoughtfully, Heather Andrews. 

Heather Andrews of The Thoughtful Gardener sent these fun pics.
(See the previous cats in gardens she has shared here.)

Sweet Scents

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A post shared by Maple & Fern 🐱 (@maplexfern)

I was thrilled to see this video on Instagram of this gorgeous kitty named Maple as she explored her home garden and sniffed some white Rhododendron blossoms.

Maple is a 3-year-old rescue cat adopted from the Prince Edward Island Humane Society in Canada, whose owners are veterinarians.

They obviously take great care of their pets and have them leash-trained.

I'll share another video next week featuring her sister, Fern. I believe they are both Maine Coons. 

See more videos and photos featuring Maple at https://www.instagram.com/maplexfern/

Waldorf the Hard Worker

Heather Andrews of The Thoughtful Gardener sent these fun pics of another hard-working garden cat. (See the previous cats in gardens she has shared here.)

She writes, "Meet Waldorf, the official cat greeter at Stoney Creek Valley Farm. Not only does she have the purrfect personality to great customers for grower and mom, Katie*, but she also trills her way with her purr into customers' hearts."

*Katie Hutchison College is the owner of both the farm and the cat!

Plant Lady is the NEW Cat Lady?

Scrolling through Amazon one night, I came across this "Plant Lady is the NEW Cat Lady" T-shirt design (see https://amzn.to/4aB3ssh*). This gave me pause, as I'm both -- as are many of us! I get the joke --  a play on the crazy cat lady stereotype - but I've been a "crazy plant lady" for as long as I've been a cat person. So I went searching and, sure enough, there IS a "Crazy Cat and Plant Lady" shirt (see https://amzn.to/4bxvciK*). Whoo-hoo! added that my wish list cart just now.

Amd while you are in the shirt-ordering mood, we previously shared this design perfect for Cats in Gardens lovers: "I Just Want To Work In My Garden And Hangout With Cats" (see https://amzn.to/3WWY1AH)

*These are Amazon affiliate links. We may earn a few pennies if you click on it, but it will not affect the price you pay for products there.  BTW, the shirts come in several color choices.

The Everything Bagel

 

Joni and Thomas of NativeRootScaping.com, 

based in the Washington, DC, area shared these photos and wrote:

Here are some photos of our cat, Bagel in our garden. Bagel was a feral cat, who as a kitten, became friends with our then puppy, Poppy. By November, as it was getting colder, we just had to take her in. Five years later and she’s the best cat we’ve ever had! She loves spending time in the garden, climbing trees, and frolicking in the neighborhood :) She’s still besties with Poppy and they love to play outside and cuddle inside 

Persimmon Party

I reported on my encounter with "Percy" at Longwood Gardens last fall here.  It turns out that Percy aka Persimmon is actually a huge internet start!

It all started with this viral tweet:

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D

@SarahMackAttack

Tonight I saw a massive orange cat get escorted out of Longwood Gardens. I asked “is he not welcome here?”, and the guy sighed & said “He shows up at the most inopportune moments”. So now, obviously, I want an entire sitcom about their relationship.

Hundreds people replied to Sarah to let her know the cat is a garden fixture and to share their own tales of seeing Persimmon at Longwood.

I think one of my favorite replies was this one:

He is actually a she and her name is Persimmon!! She likes to take long naps in the sun pic.twitter.com/NfHGXtKL9m

— no__caps (@no__caps) September 18, 2022

The Twitter consensus of why the cat was kicked out of that particular garden area (a nighttime event in the Conservatory) was that he was making himself a nuisance and possible trip hazard. Here is the thread summary at Bored Panda.

I'm looking forward to my next Longwood visit and catching up with Percy again. 

Use Caution at Easter Time: Lilies are Toxic to Felines

Keep cats away from Easter Lilies and other Asiatic Lilies (Lilium spp.) as cats can suffer acute kidney failure within a very short period of time from just licking a few pollen grains off their fur. (Daylilies, by the way, are not true lilies and so are not a plant of concern around cats.)

See more about Lilies and Cats at:
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm393028.htm

Read more about Cat-Friendly Gardening here:
http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2015/10/gardenig-is-more-fun-with-cats.html

Here is a List of SAFE Plants for Cats:
http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2015/11/nontoxic-plants-for-cats.html

In the last several years, many veterinary webpages and cat-related websites have sprung up to educate cat owners on the dangers of lilies, such as noliliesforkitties.com. Here is a graphic shared on one of them:

Top Photo Source: FDA 
(This is an update of an earlier Cats in Gardens blog post.)

A pair of trouble makers...

On Twitter/X Jonathan Norman @JonNormanDesign shares photos of his garden cats. He runs Jon Norman Garden Design, a Midlands, UK-based landscape design business. Creating beautiful gardens inspired by nature.

> My kitten crop is flowering already Little Tuppence being her mischievous self  <

>Well, I wasn't expecting this today. Young Tilly decided to climb up one of our conifers from the middle, then poked her head out halfway up

If I can get her to wear a couple of wings, she might become our Xmas fairy

Our two love the garden and get up to all mischief in it. I'm going to have to re-design the planting to be a *lot* sturdier as they do like to chase around and climb things. Hopefully, young Olga will calm down soon  <

Wear Your Green for St. Gertrude!

Here is an update of one of our most popular posts:

Thank you to the Crazy Cat Ladies Community on Facebook for letting my know about Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, who is the patron saint of Cats AND Gardening. 

The 17th of March is her Saint's Day, which she shares with St. Patrick. "Fine weather on her feast day meant it was time to begin spring planting." This may also explain why we think of St. Patrick's Day as the traditional day for early spring crop sowing -- especially peas and potatoes -- even though St. Pat has nothing to do with gardening.

She lived from 626 to 659. According to Catholics Online, "Gertrude was a mystic, (who was) gifted with visions. She befriended the Irish saints Foillian and Ultan." You can read more about her life here and here.

Let's reclaim the day for St. Gertrude and wear your green proudly in memory of her love for gardening and for cats!

Cat Got Your Garden? on the The Gardenangelists Podcast

Recently the The Gardenangelists Podcast had a show themed around the garden cats topic called: "The Cat Got Your Garden?" You can listen to it and read the show notes here.

Co-host of the show,  Carol Michel, designed the above graphic to demonstrate the "cat whiskers" on pansies that people often refer to when describing these adorable flowers.

She discussed various plants that are edible for cats with co-host Dee Nash. Those included veggies that Dee's cat likes to chomp on. My own kitties are partial to cilantro and melons, but never show much interest in vegetables. I do note the occasional carrot or pea in their healthy cat food though.