#Cat Safe #Gardens by Karen Rose Smith

Every year when I plan my herb and flower gardens, I consult the list I've made over the years for cat-safe plants.  We have two stray outside/inside felines who make their home in our yard and basement.  Bonnie and Clyde have been coming for three years but still aren't socialized.  With five inside cats, we have let Bonnie and Clyde grace us with their presence on their terms, and that works.

Remember to use mulch that isn't dyed.  Pennsylvania has a law against toxins in mulch but you have to watch for caffeine too!

When I began looking for cat-safe plants, websites were confusing.  One website would list a flower or plant as toxic to cats and another would not!  I began to realize I had to consult more than one site as well as a friend with a Masters in herb therapy to grow my list.  If I consider planting something new, I search the name of the plant and "cat safe" before I decide to purchase it.  The ASPCA keeps a list of toxic plants on their website and I regularly consult that. ASPCA Cat safe plants  Here in Pennsylvania, this is the list of pet-safe herbs and flowers that I've developed:

HERBS

Basil
Catnip
Catgrass
Bee Balm
Catmint
Chamomile
Dill
Lavender
Parsley
Sage
Thyme

PLANTS

Petunias
Snapdragons
Zinnias
Roses
Coneflowers
Carnations
Sunflowers
Cosmos
Phlox
Coral Bells

You can have a cat safe garden that is beautiful, refreshing and fit for you and your outside felines.

A #Cat Friendly #Garden by Karen Rose Smith

There are many lists online about plants that are non-toxic to cats. One thing to remember is that if you buy plants rather than grow your own, they could have absorbed pesticides from garden stores spraying for insects. As often as possible, I try to grow plants from seed.

Here are a few of my standbys that keep our garden safe for strays who visit us as well as add fragrance and color to our yard.

ROSES

I love roses and we have about a dozen bushes--Chrysler Imperial, McCartney, Queen Elizabeth, California Dreamin', Double Delight, Blue Girl, Voluptuous, World War II Memorial and some disease-resistant knock-out varieties. Their vivid colors and delightful scents are a joy to behold each June when they're at their height in Pennsylvania.

ZINNIAS

Depending on the warmth of our spring, I sow zinnia seeds around Memorial Day. They are so easy to grow...unless the bunnies eat them. I rake up the ground a bit, drop the seeds and in six weeks have wonderful color gracing our gardens. My favorite colors are Pink Luminosa, and Purple Prince. There are varieties from the large heirloom blooms to pincushion and miniatures. They can stand up and thrive in humidity and high summer heat.

PETUNIAS


Petunias will brighten up any planter or garden. If you want color, there are so many to choose from. Wave petunias are good at borders and traditional varieties are hardy and bushy.



SNAPDRAGONS

Last season dwarf snapdragons lined our gardens' borders while taller traditional varieties grew to 15 inches or higher. At one time, I could only find assortments of snapdragons. Last season, however, I could purchase flats in solo colors. Snapdragons are making a comeback.


CONEFLOWERS

I especially appreciate coneflowers because they attract hummingbirds. In pink, purple and white, they make a sturdy as well as colorful addition to our gardens. We have them planted near one of our feral shelters.



PHLOX

Phlox also attract hummingbirds. They come in various colors from pink to purple to white and blue. I grew one last year that was red and white striped. They can add height to your gardens, growing from two to three feet.

I also use herbs for greenery. Some like lavender flower. Oregano, chamomile, basil, sage, rosemary, thyme and parsley are a few cat-friendly varieties.  Cat mint is wonderful in gardens. It flowers and the strays love to lay in it!

Happy gardening!


Links to explore with non toxic and toxic plant lists:

ASPCA List

Seattle Times List

Cat Faeries List

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USA TODAY Bestselling Author Karen Rose Smith is an only child who delved into books at an early age. She learned about kindred spirits from Anne of Green Gables, solved mysteries with Nancy Drew and wished she could have been the rider on The Black Stallion. Yet even though she escaped often into story worlds, she had many aunts, uncles and cousins around her on weekends. Her sense of family and relationships began there. Maybe that's why families are a strong theme in her novels, whether mysteries or romances. Her 87th novel will be released in 2015.

Readers often ask her about her pastimes. She has herb, flowers and vegetable gardens that help her relax. In the winter, she cooks rather than gardens. And year round she spends most of her time with her husband, as well as her four rescued cats who are her constant companions. They chase rainbows from sun catchers, reminding her life isn't all about work, awards and bestseller lists. Everyone needs that rainbow to chase.

Karen looks forward to interacting with readers. They can find her at the links below. 

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©2015 Karen Rose Smith

Gardening, tomatoes and planters

This has been a week when color exploded in the garden.  Snapdragons are a beautiful pink splash as are poppies waving in the breeze in orange and salmon. Roses are budding. Diascia are planted. I've filled patio planters with our favorite varieties of flowers from home-grown petunias and geraniums, to daisies, to verbena and begonias, as well as caladium. And the tomatoes are two feet high! On Memorial Day at our yearly picnic, we'll give out many of them to friends.  The varieties that have been the heartiest heirlooms so far this year are Marianna's Peace, Anna Russian and Big Orange Tomato. More about all of them as they grow.
Have a beautiful spring week!

©2012 Karen Rose Smith

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RENEWAL AND NEW BEGINNINGS, Gardening Week 9

I suppose it's fitting with Easter this weekend that I see this week as a time of renewal and beginning.  Outside, buds from bulbs planted last fall are blossoming.  Bleeding Hearts are coming back to life.  Tulips are in full bloom and lilacs are budding.  Our Dwarf Redbud is blossoming with green leaves starting to open.  Inside, I have to recommit to the process I've begun.  The sprouts need the most care at this transition time from baby to youth.  Sometimes I need to water them twice a day, move them to the best location for success and think about the next stage--if I remove them from the heat mats and grow lights, will the sun porch still be too cold at night?  I'll watch and decide day by day.

The petunias are off the heat mats but are still positioned around the edges under the spreading rays of the light.  They are doing beautifully and a few were even big enough to pot for a neighbor for Easter.  (The two blue survivors are alive, though one has yellow leaves under the same conditions as it's sister.)  The geraniums are growing slowly.  The "Rose Ice" variety are fewer and behind the others.

The first heirloom tomatoes I planted (Marianna's Peace and Carmello) are growing steadily in larger containers.  The "Big Orange" variety are popping up vigorously and "Anna Russian" isn't far behind.  New beginnings are everywhere.

Transplanting is an activity I do every day with sprouts that are very tall with two leaves or have grown three or four leaves.  I have to care for them and decide daily which to transplant so their roots, already spreading and attaching to the peat pot, won't be damaged.  Handling the earth and the plants is relaxing and makes me feel as if I'm part of nature and the growing process.

Renewal and commitment.  Isn't that what life is all about?

 

©2012 Karen Rose Smith

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Strong Sprouts, Gardening As Therapy, Week 8

What's blooming in our garden now

I am a writer.  So I see the world through those glasses.  After I write a rough draft, I have to edit.  Editing can take weeks and is so important to the whole creative process.  I see this phase, week 8, of raising flowers in our garden as an editing process.

Every morning and evening, I check the plants to make certain their soil is moist.  I continue to thin as more than one sprout might pop up in a peat pot.  Something really interesting happened with that this week.  This is the first year I've grown impatiens and I thought they might be hard to grow.  I had thinned a few and sometimes I just drop those "extras" into the tray that collects extra water from the pots.  Well, the next morning a few of those impatiens baby sprouts were still alive and well!  I'd pulled dirt with the sprout and they were laying in a low puddle of water.  Since they'd so vigorously survived, I replanted each one in a peat pot.  Three days later, they are still growing strong.  Sometimes these tender plants are heartier than we give them credit for.

Also during this time, I'm filling in pots with more soil.  One reason I water from the bottom and spritz on the top is so the soil doesn't erode.  Now the sprouting plants are growing taller and need more support.  As soon as they grow three to four leaves, I will transplant them into the next size pot.  Tomatoes might go through this process three times.  I save quart size yogurt containers and poke holes in the bottom and sides as well as using plastic pots I've collected over the years.

The earliest petunias are already larger than those that I usually buy at the garden center.  Each has plenty of room for the roots to elongate and spread.  I'm looking forward to them budding.  The two blue plants definitely haven't grown as well and do not look healthy.  They are miniscule compared to the purple and yellow plants.  Some seeds just don't germinate to their hoped potential.  I had a 75-80 percent grow rate on the purple and yellow seeds.

The geraniums are starting to form their third leaves.  The "Violet," "Elite Pink," and "Apple Blossom" varieties have pushed up the best.  The "Ice Rose" hybrid doesn't seem to be germinating as well but it could merely be slower.   Below I've included a 16 oz. water bottle in the photo to give size perspective.  The petunia is the tallest.  In front of that is a Marianna's Peace tomato and to the left is an "Apple Blossom" geranium.

With the heirloom tomatoes, Marianna's Peace and Carmello are the first and hardiest to spring up.  I've planted others in stages and will give you reports on them as they grow.  My husband is already counting how many neighbors we can give plants to!

Until next week...

© 2012 Karen Rose Smith

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Petunias-Watering, Week 5

Is it spring yet?

Not exactly.  But there are signs.

In the fall, I brought in a flower pot that had been decorating the patio all summer.  I fill these pots with some type of spiky greenery, petunias, geraniums, salvia and daisies.  This pot was in a corner of the basement and my husband noticed it coming back to life!  The salvia began pale green because it didn't have enough light.  So we put it near the grow lamp and now it's blooming.  I love those types of surprises.

This is week 5 of my petunia project.  As you can see, the sprouts are growing on the earliest seedlings I started.  They're green and healthy and getting more leaves.  But I'll repeat again that I prefer planting in peat pots rather than trays.  I lost so many of the plants to thinning.  I did manage to transplant a few and they're still alive a few days later.  But I wouldn't suggest it.  Usually at this stage, they're too tender and fragile to survive disruption.

Also...  ONE, yes, ONE blue petunia is popping up in that big tray.  One out of the whole packet of seeds.  I'll be tending that sprout with extra care.

I also want to discuss watering this week.  With the sprouts growing more each day, I can't let them become completely dry.  By BFF and her daughter were coming for a visit.  Her ten-year-old likes to plant and tend with me.  So I let the plants go an extra 12 hours so she could help me water them.  The tallest sprouts became dehydrated and started to droop.  I was afraid I would lose a few.  But we hydrated them and the next morning they were healthy again.  I've found the best method for petunias is to place the peat pots in a flat tray--I use foil pans--and water from the bottom and spritz from the top.  Even when the soil is moist and I don't need to water from the bottom, I spritz gently twice a day from the top.

I'm pleased with the progress and grow rate this year.  I might have enough petunias for a path border.  But these little plants have a long way to go.

More next week.

©2010 Karen Rose Smith

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Sprouts and Thinning, Planting Petunias Week 4

I found this in our garden--Orchid/Iris Lady Beatrix Stanley.  They pop up early, even before crocuses but never this early.  And it is the beautiful blue in the photo.  I might not have blue petunias this year (they still aren't popping up), but these are such a dramatic harbinger of spring.

Our cat London is keeping me company while I plant.  Although she often gets into trouble, she doesn't dig in the dirt or bother seedlings I start in the kitchen.  Maybe that's because I plant grass for her and her sister Ebbie and it's all theirs.

This is thinning week.  I really hate pulling out those baby shoots.  I use a tweezers to facilitate the process.  In the peat pots I might leave two shoots for a little while if they're far enough a part.  As you can see, the root is already over an inch.  If I don't thin them, they will get tangled and stunt growth.

The first seeds I planted are growing much faster than last year.  I lowered the grow light and in only a month, a few have four leaves.  I water every 24-48 hours, adding water to the pan the peat pots sit in and then spritzing the top.  I'm thinking about planting a few more petunias since they are coming up this fast.  I'd like mature plants to add to patio containers in May.

Hopefully this week I will ready a second grow light in preparation for planting tomatoes.

Have a great week and happy planting!

Karen Rose Smith

2012 Karen Rose Smith

 

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