A new garden has been a long time coming. We have lived with our eyes open and hearts in mouth because our rental property is planted with lillies. Lillies are fatally and (just about irreversably) poisonous to cats. Shortly into our tenancy, I had a landscape gardner come out and identify every plant in the tiny courtyard, so I also found out after googling and asking pertinent people that that particular lilly plant was most poisonous in its roots and its flowers. I'd religiously cut off every single bud that ever showed so no pollen fell on my cats for them to lick. And I kept a good eye on the soil/ground cover. Even so - I do NOT recommend living with lillies and cats. Ever.
But the day came this year, after much torrential rain, where our tiny garden became VERY problematic. The soil ran out under the fence into the neighbouring land. So we had two problems - lilly roots and our houdini cat, Kato. This most patient and clever cat saw the gaps appearing, and started to assist. The rubbish that was 'soil' was exposed as builders rubble pretty quickly (broken tiles for one thing - cut cat pads as a result), but the interest Kato had in creating an escape route was also hugely dangerous for his claws catching lilly roots.
We tried to patch the gaps with pot plants. Kato is immensely powerful - he shifted the pot plants. We tried to patch the fence with stakes and wood. Kato found other parts of the fence in similar sand-run-out condition. And his interest was intense - so we had to ban the garden lest the lillies killed him. He was NOT happy. At All. He told us LOUDLY.
So we got permission to have our garden re-landscaped with cat friendly plants (at our cost). We had all the rubbish 'soil' removed, the fence line increased in depth to hold in the soil, new soil put it with natural fertilizers (poo), and new plants that were not poisonous and would also create a little jungle for the cats to stalk through. We had to lengthen the cat ban from the garden while the fertilizers did their work and became neutralised (I was playing it cat-safe!), but the day the cats were let out again, they literally lept INTO bushy bamboo, sat in it, and played chasey through it. They love their garden!
On the topic of plants cats love, we vetoed typical things like cat-mint, and cat-nip. We don't like it. And our cats also don't. It's in their genes as to whether these plants attract or not, and in the Southern hemisphere, the gene-pool for cats who do react is much smaller than the Northen hemisphere. One thing our cats really do like is lavender - but that's on our upstairs balcony, so we kept to new plants in the downstairs that could deal well with low levels of sunlight. And of course, they have their pots of cat-grass as well.
New photos of the finished garden to come - in spring, once it has time to establish! (It was done in Autumn). This is the resource we used that lists toxic and non-toxic plants for cats.
On the topic of plants cats love, we vetoed typical things like cat-mint, and cat-nip. We don't like it. And our cats also don't. It's in their genes as to whether these plants attract or not, and in the Southern hemisphere, the gene-pool for cats who do react is much smaller than the Northen hemisphere. One thing our cats really do like is lavender - but that's on our upstairs balcony, so we kept to new plants in the downstairs that could deal well with low levels of sunlight. And of course, they have their pots of cat-grass as well.
New photos of the finished garden to come - in spring, once it has time to establish! (It was done in Autumn). This is the resource we used that lists toxic and non-toxic plants for cats.
UPDATE
The garden is LUSH! It smells minty - and Ava hides out in it all day, so she comes in smelling SO GOOD I bury my nose into her warm minty fur. That would be the Catmint plant. It is calming and attractive to cats. It also creates a lovely green canopy, with plenty of space underneath in the stalks so cats can adventure in under the leaves and find nice earthy beds for a nap (or riotous jungle chasey!). Unfortunately, we have now had to leave this place - with a beautiful garden - and have moved to a new rental property. We have redone the garden here too, and are waiting for the catmint to grow :)