Fern and the Redbuds

View this post on Instagram

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/

Sweet Scents

View this post on Instagram

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/

You Turned My Whole World Upside Down

Joe Sherfy shared these pics of his gorgeous Himalayan cat. He wrote, "This was our kitty, Layla, at 6 months. I never got another photo as good as this in her 18 years. I miss her!"

"This was the one time she got out because it had snowed here (Austin, Texas) which is of course unusual."

Joe previously shared an essay by his mother about her series of orange garden cats. (You can read it here.)

Surprise Attack

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by June 🐱 (@junethekitty)

This Instagram video post was shared by junethekitty, who is based in The Netherlands.

They wrote: "Our neighbor cat Brutus is a big fan of the ‘surprise act’ during our ninja battles."

These are two very skilled kitties!

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. 

Rare White "Lion"

I came across this photo in Wikimedia Commons. The captions says: "Very rare solid white female Maine Coon at age 2. Taken by Colleen Ryan on 3/28/07." I love the color match of the Daffodil flowers and the cat's yellow eyes. What a beauty!

Maine Coons come in all kinds of color patterns as you can see in this gallery: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon. My own Maine Coon, Santino, has a tuxedo coat. You'll also notice in the wikimedia gallery that many of the Maine Coon cats are garden lovers as they are big cats and really appreciate the outdoor exercise.

Cat-erpillar

This photo from Unsplash.com by Karina Vorozheeva is captioned: "White butterfly resting on cat's nose." If only that cat or butterfly could share their stories. I'm sure they'd have plenty to tell us!

On the Fence

Garden cats, like all cats, love to be up high to survey their surroundings. Fences are a particular favorite, especially wide ones like this design. They make for easy access and quick exits.

This kitty photo was taken by Dorothe in Germany and shared on Pixabay.com.

The Adventures of #Sidneyragdoll

If you haven't watched the TikTok video of the garden cat, Sidney yet, you need to do yourself a favor and watch this charming ragdoll right now!

Go to: https://www.tiktok.com/amp/tag/sidneyragdoll

Sidney is in a neighbor's garden, just chilling, when the owner spies him and Sidney knows that nap-time is over and it is time to come home. Sidney's cool-cat attitude and the captions really make this video a stand out.

I have watched this about 10 times now and it never gets old!

The Grifter

Claudia M. Hosky of Washington, DC, said, "This is Lucian The Grifter. (Yes, his tag actually says that!) He roams the Cathedral Heights neighborhood in search of birds for pouncing and friendly neighbors." 

Heather McGann, the cat's owner, shared, "Regarding my fluffy, white, blue-eyed Persian rascal, who is named Baron von Lucian (BvL), he was dumped on my desk one day when I was working in the Middle East at a university near Dubai. His previous owner, a professor, had bought him for his new bride  But, as so often happens, when dating is not allowed or strictly monitored, they didn't really know each other and it all came out after the wedding. Two months later, she left him. Every time the professor looked at him, BvL broke his heart. And he is not shy. so he wouldn't leave the professor alone to this thoughts. My husband and I intended to find him a home. We thought such a cat would be easy to place, but there are abandoned cats and dogs all over the UAE so it was not to be. When my contract was up, of course I couldn't just leave him so he traveled back to the States with me. " 

"Though we live in a condo, we do have a rather lovely garden/patio. It's actually larger than our condo. I think it might be 600 square feet and of course BvL is a part of what makes it lovely. Alas, he refuses to stay in our condo or even our garden and he roams. He has his rounds of people he visits. And Claudia's parent's home is one of them. He thinks everyone is on this earth to do his considerable bidding. He has become a little famous in our neighborhood and people ask after him all the time. when he has withheld his love and not stopped by. He does not like winter, so he rarely ventures out of the condo in the winter. but come spring he starts his meandering."

"Once he was kidnapped...I am not making this up. My husband got a ransom call. We had to go to the police and they tracked him down for us. He was returned safe and sound. Evidently, the kidnappers wanted to keep him, but he screamed and meowed all night (he knew he was in dire straights and these new servants would be too much to train and he preferred his old servants), so they decided to give him back if we would pay a nominal fee to reimburse them for their expenses...people are incredible! No shame."

Quoth the Raven

Jan Clark of Maryland shared this photo of her beautiful black cat:
"This is Miss Raven in my living room today. She's indoors only, but surrounded by houseplants and gardening literature. She will be four years old in April. She came home with me in May 2017, just 2-3 weeks after my beloved tuxedo kitty (Kaboodle) passed on. So Raven was unexpected, but a friend was moving and couldn't keep her. I never planned to have another cat so soon, but she has helped heal my heart.
She is quite the diva and a little crazy - running & crashing around the house EVERY SINGLE DAY - and I adore her. For her own indoor garden, I grow cat grass for her."

Timmy Cat

I have been following @FloretFlower on Instagram just to get glimpses of this beautiful garden cat named Timmy. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

View this post on Instagram

Evening farm walk with Timmy. The ranunculus only have another week or so before the heat shuts them down so I'm stuffing the cooler with as many as I can. This book is going to be so freaking beautiful! #floretbook2 #growfloret

A post shared by Erin Benzakein - Floret (@floretflower) on May 25, 2018 at 6:40pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Over the past ten days, the team and I worked around the clock reading hundreds of scholarship applications submitted from all over the world. A record breaking 3,107 individuals from 65 different countries and all 50 states applied for 8 prized spots in our upcoming Floret Online Workshop. The entries were beyond inspiring and left me so excited for the future of the flower industry - on a global level. If you need a little inspiration, be sure to head to the blog (link in profile) and read a heartwarming post brimming with beautiful stories and interesting details. I would love your help in congratulating our lucky winners over on the blog! #floretscholarship

A post shared by Erin Benzakein - Floret (@floretflower) on Oct 1, 2018 at 6:30pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

A favorite from last week. Timmy + Anemones = Pure Magic✨ #growfloret

A post shared by Erin Benzakein - Floret (@floretflower) on Mar 15, 2018 at 7:28am PDT

A Blue Plate Special

Roberta Dehman Hershon of Blue Plate Communications, Inc. (www.blueplate.com) in Dedham, MA, shared these gorgeous cats.

"All my cats are rescues. Ten year old Leo is a frustrated Picasso. He sculpts boxes (although not in the garden) to burn off excess energy. He’s resting in some nepeta after a hard day’s work. (I can’t find my favorite pic of him chiseling away!)"

"Every morning before breakfast Jack (13) and Leo head out together to survey the garden. They visit their favorite spots to make sure nothing disappeared overnight."

"Twelve year old Maxie is happy to garden with me and roll over when he wants some attention.Maxie had been returned to a shelter when he was six by his owners (who adopted him as a kitten). He spent 11 months there before I found him, and invited him to live with me. He is one grateful kitty."

"This is Maggie at age 7. She’s 17.5 now and still a pretty lady. She’s not in the garden because she has never been outdoors. Here she is lounging on her favorite floral porch chair."

Karl's Cats

Karl Gercens is a horticulturist and garden lecturer, who works at Longwood Gardens. He does a great deal of garden traveling and takes terrific photos. Here are a few of his shots of cats in gardens that he shared with us.

"The playfull garden kitty was Helen Bodian’s garden in (I think New York.) Her garden was open for the garden conservancy open days and the kitty was greeting every visitor that walked through the garden."



This kitten hugging a Carex was at the JC Raulston Arboretum in North Carolina:



This orange kitty yawning was at the botanical garden in Madeira, Portugal:



This colorful cat was at the Gibbs Garden outside of Atlanta, GA:

Ejected from the Window Seat

Sharon Gentry Beasley, the garden columnist for Newcastle Pacer weekly newspaper in Newcastle, OK, shared these pictures of her fluffy boy-cat, Pearly. 

She writes,"This is the bay window in the sunroom (where the computer is) and it is full since I started bringing plants indoors. Pearly-cat likes his perching place near the plants."

 "Pearly was one of 5 kittens brought to us by a stray calico momma cat about 16 years ago. Pearly looks like a high-dollar cat with beautiful blue eyes, long hair, and his paw markings match with the opposite foot. He was the "pearl" of the 5 kittens. The others were short-haired; 3 were black and 1 was yellow. Pearly also had a white area on one side of the mouth which reminded me of a pearl by his mouth. I had hoped he was a female cat and named him Pearl before the vet said he was a male. I decided to keep his girly name anyway. I don't remember how the "boy named Sue" turned out, but Pearl turned out fine with the girly name. No one has bullied him. He didn't use to be very vocal, but the last couple of years he lets me know he wants that food faster in his bowl. He is a bit of a chunky boy so I try to limit his food. He has become kind of a sneaky-naughty cat to the other remaining cat, Rascal, who used to be top cat, but Pearly slowly is trying to take over the position. So far, he has no known health problems, but he does seem to be getting a bit deaf in the last year. He is very lovable."

Pearly close-up

 a rare moment when the two cats act like they are friends

The Fluff Factor

Janet Endsley, a Seminar & Judging Manager for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, shared this wonderful photo.

She wrote,"I had planted this Nepeta (Catmint) only an hour before. This was our beloved Prince Kuddles, a Blue Mitted Ragdoll. We said farewell to him about 2 years ago at age 18. This photo was taken when he was around 12. We got him when our daughter was 5, and he was the perfect cat for a young child, so calm and mellow. Most nights he would spend on my lap as I read and watched TV. What I love is that when I brushed him (his fur was downy soft like rabbit fur) I saved the fur. I made some home-made bird nesting balls with his fur, some yarn and lichen, wrapping it in bird netting and putting it out by my feeders. Within a few months the balls were nearly empty, but most of the yarn and lichen were left. They had taken all his fur. It makes me happy knowing that he lives on providing a soft nest for baby birds. I have a blue garden by the front door in his honor. Of course, it includes Nepeta!"

Pepper Mint

Marlene Mullet shared this gorgeous garden cat. She wrote, "Pepper came to our home when she was a kitten (to the dismay of our older cat, Socks, they still don't get along) and we believe she is at least half Maine Coon and was originally part of a litter of stray cats. She even won a photo contest as a kitten just for being so cute. :) She is very sweet and is always careful not to scratch us when we play with her. When I'm in my flower gardens, she loves to chew on or roll around in my Catmint plants. We have a cat door where she can choose to be inside or outside. She is just an all-around good-natured cat:) I think she's around 4 years old."

Don't Get Him Wet!

"Isn’t he a rock star?" #SouthernCharm's @C_Conover tells us everything about his adorable cat, Gizmo: https://t.co/PzD1ZsM4LS pic.twitter.com/mibZ7IocRM

— Decider (@decider) April 17, 2017

If you watch as much reality television as I do, you probably know that it almost all about dog-dogs-dogs, Which is fine, but imagine my elation at seeing Gizmo join the cast of Bravo's Southern Charm and then to see his owner, Craig, was bringing him out in the garden with him just sent me over the moon!

The tweet above shows a GIF of Gizmo enjoying some time out in the garden.

Gizmo has his own Instagram feed here, where he has opined that: "I live with weirdos #gardening." He says he is a "chubby Persian with a bad attitude," but I think he is quite svelte and any kitty that rides in a garden cart cannot be too misbehaved, right?

Beau-dacious

My gardening pal, Anne Hardman, is a fellow cat lover as well. Her kitties all stay indoors for their safety, but even inside cats have "cats in gardens" moments!

Anne writes: "This is my Maine Coon kitty Beau lounging in my greenhouse window. Leave it to this sweet giant to find the primo spot for sunbathing! It might be cold outside, but he is happy to settle in with my miniature orchids..."

She previously shared her kitty Max with us: http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2016/09/max-bunny.html

The Orange Shrub-cat

This orange shrub-cat meme is one in a long line of potted cats. He is a undeniably and sweetie and it is not surprising that it is being spread far and wide.

Someone named "the southern dandy" commented on it: "The orange shrub-cat requires many pets to grow big and strong. Contrary to other shrubs, this shrub is deeply adverse to being watered."

It has been shared thousands of times in Reddit and is now making it over to Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook - without attribution.

I cannot trace the original post to give them credit. Please comment below, if you know this cat, the owner, and/or the photographer.