Frannie the Urban Farm Cat

On a recent visit to the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, DC, I was able to meet Frannie, the resident garden cat and her litter of kittens (three are shown below). 

Frannie is Instagram famous. You can follow her at http://instagram.com/fmgg_farm and learn more about the monastery gardens and urban farm she patrols at http://www.fmgg.org/. She is fed and cared for by the FMGG volunteers.

I asked about the five kittens and they are all spoken for -- thank goodness as I was ready to take one home in each of my pockets that day!

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. 

Percy's Gardens

 

Meet Percy. He is one of the Longwood Gardens cats. I am assuming he is named after the Peirce family, who owned the property before the Du Pont's purchased it and turned the farm and Peirce's Park into the famous public garden that is there today.

Previously, we shared other Longwood Cats on this blog, including Mulligan, Belin, and Spooky.  

I met Percy when I visited Longwood last month and was sitting on a bench near the idea garden. Percy gave my leg a little head bump as he passed, but otherwise kept to himself and seemed more interested in rustling noises coming from the foliage in nearby beds than the humans who approached and wanted to pet him.

Guardians of Gibbs Garden

I visited Gibbs Gardens north of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, a couple weeks ago with the Azalea Society of America. While there, I was thrilled to run into a trio of friendly garden cats. They are pictured here. Paisley is the long-haired calico shown at top. Tiger is the male striped kitty shown just below. The two bottom pics are of Spot who greeted our group at the entrance and enjoyed a nice sun bath on a cool spring day.

I found this terrific article about the cats at SmokeSignalsNews.com. In it, Jim Gibbs, owner, designer, and developer of the acclaimed Gibbs Gardens says, "Every garden needs a garden cat. Cats help keep down moles, voles and other pests that eat garden plants. The voles are the worst; they eat plants from the roots up.”

The article details also the origins of the Gibbs Gardens' cats and that at one point there were 11 of them on the property! I highly recommend a visit to the garden and for you to keep an eagle eye out for these friendly felines.

 

Cowboy Kitty

Trisha Gedon, Senior Communications Specialist, Agricultural Communications Services, Oklahoma State University, shared these pics of Cowboy Kitty, the resident cat of The Botanic Garden at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma,  USA. She tracked down a source of Cowboy Kitty intel, Laura Payne, who used to be the Volunteer Coordinator there, but is now the OSU Extension horticulture educator in Payne County.

Laura told Trisha: “He was given to us by Linda Shackelford around 2012ish. He loves being the center of attention and if there is anyone around with a camera, he will find them. I once had to go get him from a family photo shoot, because he kept walking back into the shot.   He loves Temptation treats and chasing rodents in the garden, but most of all he just loves being around people.”

 

Linda Shackelford, and her late husband, Charles, were long-time supporters of The Botanic Garden at OSU. They also owned/operated TLC, a very successful greenhouse/nursery in Oklahoma City. They retired in 2012 and he passed away in 2022.

Black Beans!

This photo was shared by 

untermyergardens

 on their Instagram feed. They wrote, "Here we have our garden cat Anar. She’s relaxing at the bottom of the Vista, as if torrential downpours never created complete chaos throughout the city earlier." Untermyer Park and Gardens is an "historic 43-acre city public park, located in Yonkers, New York in Westchester County, just north of New York City."

Just look at those black toe beans! This garden cat is one  relaxed and mellow kitty.

BTW, Anar means 

Pomegranate (anaar انار) -- it "has a special meaning in Persian and Iranian culture. It is Iran's national fruit and has a deep religious and cultural place for Iranians. Pomegranate often symbolizes abundance, blessing, fertility, and immortality."

Neil the Great Dixter Cat

 

Garden writer Marianne Willburn took this photo of Neil the Great Dixter Cat while she was attended the garden symposium there this past week. She says, "Neil the Dixter cat. Rescued as a kitten from Kabul. He followed us around the garden on the gentlest of evenings."

If you are not familiar with Great Dixter, it is a legendary garden in the UK. It has "an historic house, a garden, a centre of education, and a place of pilgrimage for horticulturists from across the world. Great Dixter was the family home of gardener and gardening writer Christopher Lloyd – it was the focus of his energy and enthusiasm and fuelled over 40 years of books and articles."

And HOW did I not know there is a "Cat Garden" there! Head Gardener, Fergus Garrett describes the Cat Garden: "This area has a damp meadow containing marginals such as Caltha polypetala amongst vigorous perennials such as Ranunculus acris ‘Stevenii’ and Symphythum ‘Romanian Red’. Old fashioned lilacs sit on the higher level amongst meadow cranesbills (Geranium pratense) and Fritillaria meleagris. Ceanothus ‘Puget Blue’ hugs the building opposite a sprawling Tamarix tetrandra."

On top of that there is an illustrated book all about Neil! It is called: "The Journey of Neil The Great Dixter Cat  you can order it via our Amazon link at: https://amzn.to/3a3D1lc (we may get a few pennies, but it will not effect your purchase price). 

The book tell the story of the "loving men who rescued her (Neil means 'champion' in Irish), and brought her to live out her days in the most beautiful wild garden in the world -- the Great Dixter Garden. Honey Moga, the author, plays a role in the story and her introduction is also fully illustrated, including her dream of being an author after her husband walks out and leaves her alone with nine children. Inspiring, uplifting and true, this is a unique history and a beautifully illustrated depiction of the magical garden where the courageous cat Neil now resides happily."

Philbrook's Garden Cats

(Perilla, the garden cat. Photo: Philbrook Museum of Art)

The Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has three resident garden cats that are so popular they have their own page on the museum's website: https://philbrook.org/visit/philbrook-gardens/garden-cats/. They are Acer, Perilla, and Cleome.

This kitties get tons of press coverage (like this article in Tulsa World) and on social media. With 23 acres of grounds to patrol and views like this, you know these are some of the happiest garden cats around!

There is even a book about Acer. It is titled, "The Cat Who Got Framed." See https://shop.philbrook.org/products/the-cat-who-got-framed-by-katie-turner.

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.

Butters Up

Thanks to Drew Asbury of Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens in Washington, DC, for sharing these pictures of Butterscotch M. Post aka "Butters." He is living his best life on the grounds of this public garden known for its gracious hospitality.

Pennock's Cats

Jenny Rose Carey, senior director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) Meadowbrook 

Farm in Jenkintown, PA, shared information on the PHS Meadowbrook cats. 

She said, "The ginger cat is Rocket. The black cat is Jug Head. They are very cute. Rocket sometimes follows tour groups around the garden. On a recent Thursday, I was giving a flower arranging workshop and he came to check it out."

Meadowbrook Farm was designed and created by J. Liddon Pennock, Jr. (1913-2003), and remains his garden legacy.

Photo sources: PHSonline.org and Yelp.

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:

Have a Seat

If you can't have live felines in your garden, how about painted ones? These two Adirondack chairs at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA, are the cat's meow!

Go Away, Your Boring Me!

Karl Gercens of Longwood Gardens took this photo of cat's yawn and he wrote: "It seems that garden kitties are so used to visitors that this one couldn't wait to get back to his cat nap! — at Jardim Botânico da Madeira."

Spooky Electric

Patty Hankins of Fine Art Floral Photography (http://beautifulflowerpictures.com) submitted this photo of Spooky from her recent trip to Longwood Gardens in Kennet Square, PA.

She says, "He was sitting on the lawn rather than near the flowers and he is a member of the Longwood Rodent Control Team :-)."

Cats in Garden blog followers will recall that we have featured two other members of the Longwood cat family, Belin and Mulligan.

William the Conqueror

 

The staff of the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture in Alexandria, VA, submitted this little cutie. Arcadia Farm is located on the historic grounds of Woodlawn Estate. 

"Behold, William, the Mighty Arcadia Barn Cat. 

Born and raised at Mount Vernon, William joined the Arcadia staff this spring and has absolutely failed at killing anything worthwhile. William, it turns out, is a lover. Folks who have visited the farm have taken classes with him sitting on the bench next to them. He runs up the brick path in the middle of the farm and leaps into your arms when you arrive. He has a weird meow.

For the winter, he has been ordered to guard the homestead of a brave Army officer on the grounds of Fort Belvoir"

William himself also wrote to say: 

"I shall miss the volunteers, groundhogs, and mice whom I befriended during my assignment at Arcadia, but the blow of separation is lessened by the fact that the family under my care is in desperate need of a fluffy kitty with extremely large paws who prefers cuddles to doing violence. On this front I shall not disappoint.

I am doubly pleased that my duties keep me on Mr. Washington’s original property. I do not like to stray too far from my birthplace, Mount Vernon.

I am told I had a benefactor cover the doctor bill, and that she is a great admirer. I blush. Kat, I thank you and look forward to renewing our acquaintance when I resume my former duties.

My post continues to surprise me with ever more sybaritic pleasures. There is this thing they call 'sofa' that envelopes me in lavish warmth. I must be careful around it as its temptations threaten to dull my wits. My duties require me to be ever sharp, so I am exercising a wholesome discipline and rise from it several times a day.

Salutations,
Willam the Barn Cat"

  

A Cat in Monet's Garden at Giverny

Flickr user
snap713 shared this photo. She said it is from a collection of postcards published by Pomegranate. The back of the card reads:

"Pink cosmos and golden sunflowers tower above Fifi, the calico cat who resides in Monet's garden, as she strolls down a gravel path in the silver mist of dawn. Photograph by Elizabeth Murray c 1990."
.

Taking a Mulligan

Patty Hankins of Fine Art Floral Photography (http://beautifulflowerpictures.com) submitted this photo of Mulligan. He is new-ish part of the growing cat family at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA.

She said, "I ran into a member of the Longwood Gardens Rodent Control Team yesterday – in the conservatory where the cats aren’t supposed to be."

 

You may recall we featured Belin, another Longwood Gardens feline, awhile back on this blog -- here is a link.

Why is No One Rubbing My Tummy?



Belin





















This was taken at Longwood Gardens by Diana Wind. Diana is a gardening chef and registered dietitian in New Jersey. She also submitted a homeless cat image from her garden a few days ago. She can be found on Twitter @GardenCuizine. Her food blog is at http://gardencuizine.com/.

I did a little googling and found out the cat's name is Belin and this is his favorite chair in the Peirce-du Pont house conservatory. He has been photographed  in it by many visitors to Longwood. According to Longwood's own blog, Belin is one of 11 cats that patrol this wonderful public garden. “Belin” (pronounced BEE-lin) is Ms. Alice du Pont’s maiden name.

I can't wait to visit Belin and the other 10 garden cats myself next month on a daytrip tour to see Longwood's holiday extravaganza. If you'd like to join me on the tour, see the full trip details here.