Flinging with Cats

 The Fling (formerly Garden Bloggers Fling) took place in Memphis, TN, this year. As usual, part of my time was spent prowling the tour gardens for cat sitings. 

The first one was at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens of this orange kitty scampering in the shade garden. He (she?) gave me that impish look right before disappearing down a drainage pipe. (If anyone at the Dixon knows anything more about this cat, please do share!)

Next was this faux cat in the private garden of a cat lover who also had an affection for all things blue. She not only had lots of blue garden decor, but also a few blue cats by her front door and a "cats rule" sign that I heartily agree with!

Finally, as I ran around the Cooper-Young neighborhood gardens on our last day of the Fling, this pretty gray boy ran up to me and insisted I stop and pet him. The owner of a nearby house came out and told me his name is Arthur and that he is fed by several households on that block, but not really ownd by any of them. I think Arthur is quite content with that arrangement.

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

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 

Victor Gets the Spoils

 

Greg Small shared this photo of his beautiful cat, Victor. 

Those piercing blue eyes and relaxed pose are sure to charm your heart. 

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Mary-Denise Smith, who blogs at www.crumbsonthetable.com, shared these photos of Joey.

She writes:

Joey is almost 17 years old, we think, and has lived all his life in Green Ridge House - a senior living apartment house in Greenbelt, MD.

Two years ago, just as the shut downs were slamming everything shut, Joey’s human died, and Joey was sent to the Greenbelt animal shelter. 

I found out about him from our wonderful house manager, rushed over in the very last hour before they closed, and brought Joey home with me.

It took him quite a while to get over the shock and confusion of events, and to living with a new human. But he rose to the occasion like the gentleman he is, and is now a champion lap cat.

Here he is doing something new - messing with seed packets! He had so much fun making them rattle and skip around, I was sorry/not sorry to pick them up!

In the photo below, he is peering out from under the bedsheets on laundry day.

According to Wikipedia: 
"Shake, Rattle and Roll" is a twelve bar blues-form song, written in 1954 by Jesse Stone (usually credited as Charles F. Calhoun, his songwriting name). The original recording by Big Joe Turner is ranked number 127 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. 

   Bill Haley & His Comets covered it in 1955.

Misty Blue

Last week, Charlotte Ekker Wiggins, a beekeeper, author, and gardener, shared photos of her cat, James A. Mess. This week, we share James' sister.

Charlotte wrote that: "Etta Girl is a grey tuxedo rescue found about a year ago with her brother, James A Mess, when they were 4 weeks old. A Russian Blue mix, Etta loves spending her days on my garden deck periodically bringing me sticks, dead leaves, and catnip stems, she's my nature girl."

"S-T-R-E-T-C-H in Rolla, Missouri USA. Etta Girl in one of her favorite spots in my deck garden, on top of the table where she knows she's not supposed to be. Unless it's sunny, then all bets are off!"

"Oops, may have to cut back on the daily fresh catnip sprig treats. James A Mess, on top and his sister Etta Girl on my Rolla, Missouri USA deck garden."

"Everyone can use a little help gardening. James A Mess, right, and Etta Girl, bottom left, pitched in to help me with these last couple of pots in Rolla, Missouri, USA on my deck garden."

"On cool mornings I like to enjoy a cup of tea in my deck garden in Rolla, Missouri USA. Etta Girl, left, and James A Mess, right, decided to join me. Maybe next time I fix something other than catnip tea or set three places!"

Everybody's Pickin' Up On That Feline Beat

Stacy Greenstreet of Greenstreet Gardens, shared this adorable garden center cat. We have a special place in our hearts for "working" garden cats. 

Stacy writes, "Jasmine, aka  “Jazzy”  came to us in February 2019. We adopted her from the SPCA Barn Cat program, a fantastic organization that does amazing work in and around Anne Arundel County, MD, USA." 

"Jazzy took to her new home with us quickly. She can be found in our greenhouse or the gift shop, but she prefers to be in the gift shop greeting customers and lounging around. We call her our 'Gift Shop Kitty' or 'Diva' in the best sense of the word."  

"She has the sweetest personality and on occasion will kindly bring us an unwanted critter that may sneak its way inside. "

"Our customers have come to love her as well. We have people who make special trips just to see Jazzy. On a personal note, we feel that having a cat or any pet in and around a business, brings a sense of calm, community and connection. She is surely an ambassador of Greenstreet Gardens."

You might also recall that we featured two other Greenstreet garden cats, Rue and Patch, so be sure to click on their names here to read their stories and see their photos too. 

And if you don't get that headline reference, I invite you to enjoy this soundtrack gem from Disney's The Aristocats here.

A Cat in the Carex

Brie Arthur, a well-known garden writer and speaker, shared this photo of Miss Ava Grace and wrote, "Carex is a wonderful shade tolerant, ornamental grass that is ideal for every landscape. The attractive and colorful low-maintenance clumps are evergreen and provide endless entertainment for kitties!"

Brie previously shared a photo of her beloved Kubby with us here.

You can find her on Instagram at both @brietheplantlady and @briethecatlady -- the latter of which of course is a great place to see more cats in gardens photos. Here are a couple more that she shared.

"Rice is for kittens!!!" writes Brie. " ‘Black Madras’ rice is a fabulous plant to grow in a pot with no holes! Even more important, it serves as a cat playground."

"You know autumn is upon us when the kitten spends her day playing with bees in a mum patch!" wrote Brie.

Defying Gravity

Mary Lai lives outside of Denver, Colorado, USA, in a townhouse with lots of balcony/deck spaces and container plantings. She wrote, "This is Niko. He is a one-year-old rescue cat. He is constantly in my potted plants and is fearless hanging out there over the balcony in the planter box. He also goes crazy over worm castings. He loves to put his face in it!"

The Insect Hunter

Beth Blum Spiker shared these photos of her garden cats and said, "I have 4 whom are in/out cats. This is Toby who loves to spend much of his time in the garden in the summer. Often, he spends the night out while everyone else comes in at dusk. We live in Laurel, MD, and the back garden is for the bees, butterflies, and birds and so there are lots of native plants so everyone has enough to eat. Toby likes to sleep in the garden as well as keeping his eye out for insects. He has fondness for crickets and dragonflies, although I wish he didn’t!"

Monty in the Garden

Angela Napili took this captivating photo of the British Ambassador’s cat, Monty*, in the gardens of the Ambassador’s residence, British Embassy, Washington, DC.

She submitted to the Washington Gardener Magazine 2020 Garden Photo Contest. While it was not among the winners, it is a winner in my heart. Another image that Angela entered did win. She earned First Place in this year's Garden Views category!

To see more of Angela's beautiful photography, go to: 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/aon/with/40862255113/

Monty is presumably named after Monty Don O.B.E., the UK's leading garden writer and broadcaster.

The photo was taken with a Nikon D750, lens: 50.0 mm f/1.8 ƒ/5.6, 50.0 mm, 1/400s, 1100 ISO, no flash on May 11, 2019.

Shades of Gray

Simba

I stopped by neighbor Melanie Isis' garden this week. She is an avid gardener and animal lover. While there, her two cats came out and joined us and I asked Melanie to share a bit about them.

"Simba is the grey cat, about 16 years old, male, very thin and constantly hungry. Also. loves to be near his owners physically.  Kiwi is the long-haired black cat, female, and perhaps about 4 years old.  My daughter bought her from someone’s ad in North Carolina, when she was in college.  We’ve had her for a couple years, and she is a delightful sprite.  Don’t think she had a lot of physical handling in her kittenhood, so she’s kind of skittish, but very dear, beautiful green eyes, compact body and loves to take walks with us and our dog Walker.

They both like to hide in the shrubbery, and to walk amongst the perennials like they’re in the forest."

Kiwi

Next Stop: Sleepytown

Fellow garden writer Louise D. Clarke, who works at the Morris Arboretum in Philadelphiam PA, shared this photo:  "Ayame, a female cat, belongs to Sara Leighton, who lives in Newark, DE. While Sara is away, Ayame is staying with me in Media, PA. Ayame is at least 10 years old and is pictured in my home garden under the shade of crape myrtles. She has an automatic feeder and is very good at telling time. She also likes high places to perch."

I did some side research and found that "Ayame" is a popular female name in Japan and the name of a trains service there. The association between cats and trains is a common one world-wide -- from Chessie  here in the Mid-Atlantic USA to Felix in the UK to Shawarma in Israel. All aboard! 

The Orange and The Gray

Tom Hammond and Mark Holler of Ginkgo Gardens in Washington, DC, shared this story about their late garden center store cat, Ginkgo:

"Tuesday (gray) and Ginkgo (orange) joined us way back in 2000, when Tuesday, his mother, gave birth to a litter of 5 in the store. Believe it or not, Ginkgo was the runt of the litter. (All the other kittens went to Capitol Hill homes.) He was so small, in fact, that no one would take him. So here we are with the runt of the litter, he was one of the largest cats in the District. 

"Ginkgo spent most of his time lying in the cardboard box on the front counter, or as we call it, the Casa del Gato. If you have been in the store before and seem to remember a huge orange mass next to the cash register, it is actually a real cat (people are surprised by that sometimes). Tuesday spent a fair amount of her time exploring Capitol Hill, and most likely finding other families to spend her afternoons with. Mark recalls a story when there was a large snow storm and one of the employees found Tuesday trotting through over 3 feet of snow!

"Tuesday and Ginkgo greeted customers for over 18 years. They were sweet, loving animals and the nicest cats we’ve ever known.

"Tuesday passed away several years ago, and most recently we lost Ginkgo to old age in January 2019. The cats were our dear friends and we miss them greatly. We look forward to meeting the next kitty that decides to have Ginkgo Gardens as their new home soon."