Sunflower Guardian

Randy Wells, who gardens in Illinois, posted this photo on Twitter/X with the caption, "The neighbor’s cat, Socks has committed to watching over the Sunflowers and guarding against anything that could damage them ."

Midwest Julie replied: "This cat spends so much time at your place that it’s yours, let’s be honest."

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.

California Dreamin'

 

Mike K., Monterey, California, shared this colorful photo and wrote: "This neighborhood cat frequently stops by my gardens to check out what's in bloom.."

Sweet Milo

Colleen Ward of Kensington, MD, USA, shared this photo of a cat that paid her a visit on her recent garden maintenance job.

She writes, "The sweet little cat I met up with today was at my gardening job in Bethesda, MD! It was early in the morning and I thought I heard a meow. Five minutes passed and I looked up and there he was on the wooden fence checking me out. He came right to me and got lots of petting from me. His name was Milo. I cut back some catmint and he was loving it....LOL"

She previously shared photos of her cats Dasher here and Rhapsody 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!

Nosey Neighbor Cats

my cat too😭 pic.twitter.com/nvFdIV6BWw

— susie (@_sxrax) December 15, 2020

 

I discovered this post on a BoredPanda.com thread about nosey neighbor pets.

There is definitely a tendency inside all garden cats to snoop on their neighbors -- especially through a fence or window -- and even better if those neighbors have other cats and animals to interact with! Is your kitty nosey about the neighbors?

The Heart of a Champion

Shawna Coronado of ShawnaCoronado.com shared this photo and wrote:

"See my new little garden cat friend in the side yard? His name is Campion ('Champion' in English) and he is my neighbor's cat, but is quite the cuddly buddy."

This wasn't the first neighbor cat that Shawna has shared with us. See another neighbor's cat here.

Kitties Can't Read the Rules

 

A fellow member of the Fenton Community Garden, Tina Joy, shared this adorable fellow's photo to our online Buy Nothing group on Facebook trying to find his owner. Luckily, they ere located shortly after and it turns out they live just a few doors down from the garden.

The community garden rules state that "no pets are allowed," but clearly this young kitty cannot read and the warm wood chips path are a lovely place to take a nap. The rule is mainly aimed at folks who would like to take their dogs to hang out with them there and we all know dogs doing their thing there can quickly make things unpleasant and unsanitary.

We do have some other neighboring cats that frequent the garden. These are feral strays that live at the nearby car repair shops. This little colony is all TNR and helps to keep down the rodent population in the industrial area and adjacent park property. These working cats may give this kitty quite an education if he is again permitted outdoors! I hope this cute visitor's owners keep a close eye on him.

Boxwood Purrrfection

Charles King Sadler of King Garden - In the Landscape shared this video of a friendly feline "who supervised our Boxwood rejuvenation pruning and training in Dallas, Texas." King said he was hired as a boxwood consultant and trainer by arborist. He had no further information to share about the cat or its owner.

   In the video, you can see that  this garden cat is quite vocal about his boxwood appreciation and is not shy in the least. 

A Snowball's Chance

Tony Sarmiento of Silver Spring, MD, USA, shared pics of this black and white cat named Snowball, who lives a few blocks away, but regularly visits Tony's garlic plantings.

Tony previously shared pics of his calico Cali and his late cat, Doris, who was a polydactyl.

Tortitude

I was taking a morning stroll yesterday, when I came across this friendly and striking cat in a neighbor's front garden. She is presumably a female as most Tortoiseshell cats are and was quite pleased to pose for my camera. I love that stripe down her nose.

Not-so-lazy Garfield

Ronnie Port, horticultural advisor at St Bridgets nurseries, in Newton St Cyres, Devon, United Kingdom, shared this photo on her LinkedIn profile.

She said, "This picture was taken by my friend and work colleague, Jess Gowing, of a cat that loves to visit us at work he walks over 1km just to say hi. Meet Garfield, I think her picture shows how epic he is and what a great photographer she is. He’s a lovely little cat with very loving owners. The regular customers we have also love looking out for him."

"He’s our favourite little pal that pays us very regular visits. His wage is being fussed and he follows me around quite a lot expecting a nudge from on top of compost bales, tree lines, gates, and occasionally from the till counter as a tip from customers."

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! 

Feeling Froggy

This charming cat was begging for affection at the plant sale today at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA. Apparently, kitty is a regular visitor to the Friends of Green Spring (FROGS) Garden Gate Plant Shop. No one on staff that I asked knows his (her?) name or any other details, but they think kitty wanders over from some nearby houses into the public garden and especially likes all the attention from the plant shop visitors.

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."

You've Got Cat-Mail

Sally Meitz of  Munith, Michigan, shared this photo. She said, "This is my neighbor’s cat. We don’t know her name, but we call her Lily. My neighbor is elderly and living with her daughter a few blocks away, and it falls to the daughter to come over and care for her mother’s four cats. When the weather was warm they spent much of their time in my yard, but now that it’s cold out, fortunately they are indoors most of the time. Lily is very vocal and very affectionate."

Tribute to Tucky

Jim Dronenburg is a retired accountant and now gardens full-time in Knoxville, MD. He shared this story of Tucky. His partner, Dan Weil, shared these photos.

The Grass is Always Greener

This photo was shared by @theasscat on Twitter.

She commented, "Neighborhood snoop. He can watch 4 yards at 1 time."

See more cute cat picks on her Twitter feed.

That's "Sir" to You, Sir

Bradley Evans, horticulturist/curator of the introduction garden at yhe U.S. National Arboretum, shared these photos of a neighbor's cat in the Washington, DC, Bloomingdale neighborhood.

He said, "My name for him as I don’t know his real name: Sir Gray. This lovely black and gray tabby kitty visits me often while I am gardening. He is a neighbor’s cat that I shower with love whenever he visits. On this occasion, after lots of petting and him exploring this small garden, he chose to rest a bit under the cover of Carex ‘Blue Zinger’. He ate a few leaves, cleaned his fur, and went about his merry kitty way. Sir Gray is such a beautiful, friendly, well-mannered, and polite cat. I love to host such amazing garden visitors!"

Flitting with Meeko

Jeanette Price Zipf, the Education Registrar and Visitor Experience Coordinator at Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware, shared these adorable pictures.

She said, "This is our sweet boy, Meeko, in our backyard. While this isn't quite a formal garden bed, he still walks among the beauties - Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica), that is! Meeko is just over 10 years old. He and (we think) his brother, Shadow, were dumped in my sister's yard when they were very tiny kittens. My niece, Shelly, rescued them and kept them until they were weaned. Shadow came to live with us, and Meeko lived with Shelly. (Meeko was first named Bella because it was thought he was a girl.) Meeko was a wandering boy. Eventually he came to live with us and has been with us since August of 2010. EVERYONE loves Meeko. He is the friendliest cat. We live in a suburban development and he has friends on every street. One year at Halloween, three little girls came trick-or-treating as black and white cats and told us that they had dressed up like Meeko. He has also had his misfortune. In January of 2015, he was attacked in our front yard by a raccoon. That was the first time we needed to visit an animal hospital. He had a badly wounded back paw. Happily he recovered. His best quality - he follows his friends around like a puppy dog. He comes when called, mostly, and wants to be where ever we are. His worst quality is that he is the dumbest cat ever. He will sit in the middle of our street and expect cars to stop or go around him. Fortunately, so far, he is still alive. His story goes on. we love him dearly."

"Pictured below is our boy in a neighbor's flower pot. She was not totally amused but thank you, Amy, for a great picture!"