A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 cat garden

I am going to make a garden for my cat.

We moved here to a wetland corner of the lake and there are fabulous cranes and pelicans and ducks, galore. Very entertaining for the cats, but watching all the wild nature around them, while they sit on their concrete balcony, has created a new behavior. Whenever I get ready to go out the door, they try to hide in various spots and race to get out, before I shut the door.

I want to make a whole little garden area for them (I have a huge patio/balcony). I plan on using a wood frame and plastic with a layer of pebbles and then a few inches of dirt for the low growers/ground covers and set small pots of the taller things like catnip.

Doing a net search, I found many grasses, but not so many herbs, that cats like. Does anybody know of plants/herbs their cats seem to like?

I have read parley, lemon grass, leaf lettice and somone mentioned echinacea!

Any advice on my venture would be appreciated.



~de-ni

Here are some that I know of to be cat attractants:

Catnip (Nepeta cataria)
Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)
Cat Thyme (Teucrium marum)
Silver Vine (Actinidia polygama)
Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata)
Cranberry Bush (Viburnum opulus)
Dittany of Crete (Origanum dictamnus)
Baby Blue-eyes (Nemophila menziesii)

My little Devon kitty just LOVES the big pot of dirt I have left on my balcony...she digs and pulls out roots and stones. I was thinking it would be fun if there were worms in there for her to unearth. :rolleyes:
She has also shown affection toward my rosemary...and I remember my old kitty liked hanging out by the rosemary too.

Kitties Rule!

~Amie

Our big cat "Morris" a.k.a. Clarence, munched on My rosemary Too! He also was attracted to my SouthernWood! They are outside now...the plants, not the cats!

a cat garden

catnip is of course the obvious one. You might give a try to peppermint as well. The cats in my neighborhood seem to love stopping by the peppermint as often as possible, occasionally even nibbling a little at the leaves. I would not have known it was the cats and not a bug if I had not actually caught one of them with his nose in the pot. When he pulled his face out he had a little piece of leaf caught in his scruff..lol(the lemon balm too, but not as often) Peppermint is easy to take care of, takes damage rather well, and makes a surprisingly fine carpet ( or bed depending on the kitty ) for them to roll and play in. Another reason I know cats like peppermint is about 2 years ago I had a cat who took a liking to my husbands favorite chair, as a bathroom. We made the mistake of spraying the chair with a peppermint mist to help deodorize it & the cat could not stay away after that...

A cat garden is a great idea. Some herbs are also great for detering pests that will bother cats. I don't know the specific herbs used (pennyroyal?), but its something to look up...

Mel

so many great ideas!