Keep Easter (and other) Lilies Away From Your Cats

Keep cats away from Easter Lilies and other Asiatic Lilies (Lilium spp.) as cats can suffer acute kidney failure within a very short period of time from just a licking a few pollen grains off their fur. (Daylilies, by the way, are not true lilies and so are not a plant of concern around cats.)

See more about Lilies and Cats at:
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm393028.htm
 
Read more about Cat-Friendly Gardening here:
http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2015/10/gardenig-is-more-fun-with-cats.html

Here is a List of SAFE Plants for Cats:
http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2015/11/nontoxic-plants-for-cats.html

Photo Source: FDA 
(This is an update of an earlier Cats in Gardens blog post.)

Tippy Toes in the Bulb Boxes

Regular contributor Marie Mims Butler shared these photos and wrote, "Meet Tippy Toes. For 14 years she has been a sales cat at Norfolk County Feed and Seed in Portsmouth, VA. She lures customers in with her charm and willingness to be worshipped. Tubers, bulbs, seeds, plants, pots, and products mysteriously appear in the customer’s cart. Tippy Toes is a feline siren. She scoffs at our efforts to resist."

"In my Facebook post, Les Parks posted a picture of another Feed and Seed kitty (shown below) Gizmo has lost garden center privileges after trying to commute across 4 lanes of traffic to and from home. She is safely lounging at home, scoffing at those who work for such a pampered way of life."

Gizmo by Les Parks

Marie Mims Butler's previously shared posts to this blog include these:

https://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2016/10/its-southern-thing.html

https://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2012/12/leaves-or-squirrels.html

https://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2014/06/you-understand-me.html

Lady Aberconway's Cat

This striking image is by CECIL BEATON (1904-1980) of Lady Aberconway's cat, Antonia, Bodnant, 1950. It was up for auction at Christies a few years ago.

And here is about about the lady herself -- a rather fascinating women, she was friends with many famous people of her time including Hugh Walpole, Clive Bell, Virginia Woolf, and King George.

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.

Wear Your Green for St. Gertrude!

Here is an update of one of our most popular posts:

Thank you to the Crazy Cat Ladies Community on Facebook for letting my know about Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, who is the patron saint of Cats AND Gardening. I'm Catholic, adore both cats and gardening, and had never heard of her. No lie! 

The 17th of March is her Saint's Day, which she shares with St. Patrick. "Fine weather on her feast day meant it was time to begin spring planting." This may also explain why we think of St. Patrick's Day as the traditional day for early spring crop sowing -- especially peas and potatoes -- even though St. Pat has nothing to do with gardening.

She lived from 626 to 659. According to Catholics Online, "Gertrude was a mystic, (who was) gifted with visions. She befriended the Irish saints Foillian and Ultan." You can read more about her life here and here.

Let's reclaim the day for St. Gertrude and wear your green proudly in memory of her love for gardening and for cats!

Introducing Kimba and Fancy

@wdcgardener We grew the grass just for the kitties and they weren’t even that interested! #wdcgardener #cats #gardening ♬ I Think I Like When It Rains - WILLIS

Last March, I lost my beloved Versace. He was THAT CAT -- the one you bond with in such a special way that no one could possible replace him. While I still mourn him terribly, I am consoled by his stepbrother Santino and the two feral kittens that I took in last spring -- Kimba and Fancy. I thought it is high-time now to introduce these two youngsters to you. 

These tabby-mix litter mates look like they have different fathers, but we don't know for sure. They started off the same-size as wee baby kittens. Kimba is a big, muscular boy and has grown to almost 11 pounds! Fancy is a dainty girl and barely 5 pounds now, though she eats like a pig!

They have calmed down a bit as they are approaching their first birthdays, yet still wreak havoc on my house and all the plants inside. We recently grew some cat grass for them and Fancy has enjoyed grazing on it. (See video above.) Kimba though is just thoroughly confused by the cat grass and thinks other plants are much more fun to tip over, dig in, munch on, and otherwise destroy. I am at my wit's end with him and have several barricades up around the house and windows to contain the worst of the damage. We'll see if he outgrows this phase soon.

Here is also a video of them experiencing their first snow from the safety for indoors: 

https://www.tiktok.com/@wdcgardener/video/7204473067429498155?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7122118070726264366

I know I'll be sharing my pics and videos of Kimba and Fancy in coming years 😼.
Here is a recent one of them enjoying a sunny windowsill together.

The Winter Sun

Garden author and speaker Marianne Wilburn shared this photo of: "a winter day off for three garden cats."

And who doesn't deserve a nap in the sun more than our hardworking feline garden workers?

You can see Marianne's previous cat photo shares here:
https://catsingardens.blogspot.com/search?q=marianne