Vintage Garden Kittens

HARRY WHITTIER FREES (1879–1953) was an American photographer who used his photographs of posed animals to create novelty postcards and children's stories. This collection dates back as far as 1914.

He said of his work: "These unusual photographs of real animals were made possible only by patient, unfailing kindness on the part of the photographer at all times. Speed is essential in securing these pictures, but very often it is impossible to be quick enough." He reportedly had to discard over 2/3 of the film he shot.

On his live animal subjects, he wrote, "the kitten is the most versatile animal actor, and possesses the greatest variety of appeal." We are sure you‘ll agree that the garden kittens are especially enchanting.

Good-Also Good-Best

This cartoon by @natalyalobanova on Instagram says it all:

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp5lx1kHpNH/?utm_source=ig_web_options_share_sheet

Cat Nap Art

Afternoon Nap by Marilyn Barkhouse

This sweet art print of a garden cat is available to order from UrbanLoftArt.com. If you check out Marilyn Barkhouse's portfolio on their site, you'll see she has many other garden cats in her collection, along with dogs and butterflies and lots of flowers.

Her artist bio says she "is an award-winning artist who was born in the Canadian Maritimes on Prince Edward Island. Marilyn is inspired by the wildlife that she can see from her studio window, including deer, coyote, bald eagles and fox. She works from her studio located near the Cape Blomidon provincial park - a very popular park in Nova Scotia. She enjoys the serenity and quietness of a pastoral, rural life along with an extensive menagerie of pets, all previously abandoned or abused animals to which she has given a loving and warm home."

Garden Cats Come in All Sizes

Whether you are a tiny kitten or are the king of the jungle, the feline principle of “if it fits, I sits” reigns supreme.
   Maria Weinberg, zookeeper at Oaklawn Farm in Nova Scotia, Canada, said: “I was just going into the lion enclosure to give the lions some pumpkins to play with. As I was giving the other two lions their pumpkins I look back at Obi and saw he was sitting in the wheelbarrow. Hoping he would stay there long enough [so] I could get the pic, I let him sit there as long as he wanted, and after two or three minutes he jumped out and went and played with the pumpkins.”

For size comparison purposes, here are two other wheelbarrow garden cats we shared previously:
https://catsingardens.blogspot.com/search?q=wheelbarrow

The Allotment Cat

Robert the Allotment Cat is " a cat living on an allotment site (community garden) in Birmingham UK. My human does not understand cats. I am trying to help her."

He communicates through his Twitter account @AllotmentCat.

I contact his human, Betty, and she was happy to have me share Robert's photos with you all. Here are some of my favorites --

I love drinking from this thing. My human says it's for watering the plants but I don't care and anyway, the plants seem to be doing well on it so maybe it will do me good too. What do you think?

My human and some others sat around the table and talked. I thought it would be good if I helped so I lay down on top of some paper. My human said I will have to join the committee. What's a committee?

Apparently she doesn't know anything about cats. I don't believe her, she knows how to make me happy. She picked me up and I loved it so she does it every day now. I think I have trained her well. The last 18 months have been the best in my life.

I liked one of the humans a lot. I kept her company in the greenhouse, she told me I was her best boy and that I would be known as 'Robert' from now on. I was happy, I sat and looked at her so she could take a photo. She takes LOTS of photos.

I started to like being here. I went to the greenhouse every day. There was a human there who put food down for me when she saw me. Other humans came to see me and I began to feel really special.

Earlier this year I helped my human to grow lots of plants. I am careful and I don't squash them. I like gardening.

I think our allotments are special. The humans look after us cats (there are 7 of us living there) and we have lovely warm beds to sleep in and lots of food every day. I sometimes sleep in a greenhouse.

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:

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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

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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

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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

Best Plants to Grow for Cats

Here is a new video by Sun Gro Horticulture on Best Plants to Grow for Cats featuring lots of gorgeous Garden Cats. Enjoy!