Furry Friends and Your Garden

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So on a down day and an attempt to stay out of the 115 degree day....can you believe it's already 100 degrees at 10 AM???!!....I thought I would show you some of my "help" around here. Cat lovers will enjoy...but I do warn, this blog is about cats and why I can't have plants in my house.  If you hate cats, skip this one time only blog on my little friends:)

Their names are Aurora(grey), Nova(orange), Cassie(black), Callie(Torty), and Luna(white).  They were all rescued from the desert.  Nova was actually feral and I set a trap out in the yard to catch her....took 3 weeks to get her domesticated!!  When I moved onto this property, it was terrible.  It was overrun with feral cats, dead trees, leaky valves, and every pot and well had become a kitty litter bed at our place.  It took me two years to regain control!!!  And still there are several feral cats that call our place home, but I have my eye on them and plants have taken over their spaces where they like to use the bathroom!!

Why so many cats?  I don't know.  I love animals...I'm not a horder but I think when we go on vacation, it's nice for them to be around each other and play....and they all just kind of happened.  Aurora was found almost dead at Dove Mountain, but we nursed her back into health. The orange one we caught, along with her siblings, and gave away to homes.  The black and torty were adopted from a Catalina farmer and his wife. And the white one.....well...an Avondale couple didn't have room for their two white babies...so we took one home:) They were screening people because apparently people were taking kittens and feeding them to their snakes in Phoenix.  Can you imagine???  Anyhow, that was our limit.

But the consequences for our actions are great....no living plants in our house!!  Big potted plants can't be here because the cats think it's a great place to use the bathroom. Small potted plants can't be in the house because they are apparently fun to knock over and roll around in the dirt.  Bird feeders can't be hanging from the windows because well....let's face it....running, jumping, and hanging off the shades is the best:(

   And as for floral arrangements....my favorites for when there isn't any color in the garden....yeah...forget about it.....the flowers are wondeful to chew on and the vases are just so fun to knock over allowing the water to run all over the table and onto the floor.....so I have had to move everything outdoors.  If you try to hang plants that spill over the pot.....yeah....forget about that one....cats love to jump and rip them from their pots....especially spider plants. And let's not even get started on the Christmas tree.....but I do have some suggestions for that particular project....hang kitty friendly ornaments on the bottom of the tree for them to play with and they'll leave the expensive ones alone on top...well the older ones will. 

But I wouldn't have it any other way.....I love these gals too much.  They are now all around 3 years old and still causing havoc and it wouldn't be the same without them.:) So if you have a feral kitty outside that watches you garden, consider yourself lucky.  It's nice to have a furry friend to garden with:)

<><><><><><><><><>Look carefully and you'll see a camouflage kitty about to attack your display!! 

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Trouble...Nova and Cassiopeia