Remembering: Cats Among the Leaves

In the five years since I last posted, a lot has happened in my life, both good and bad. The saddest thing, though, is the loss of my cats, Luke and Peppermint.  Luke died in the spring of 2016, just after his 18th birthday.  And Peppermint left us this January, at the age of 17.

I knew I would have to write this post, because Luke and Peppermint have been very much a part of this blog over the years. A look at the "pets" label confirms this. They loved to come investigate when I was doing something with the plants, either some actual tending task, or just moving them around to take a photo.  Each was very sweet in his own way.  Luke was a shy, serious, and reserved little man (except when we broke out the catnip; then he was a total stoner dude).  Peppermint was bold, kittenish even in old age, and affectionate with everyone. They were buddies to each other, and to me and my husband. Rest in peace, guys.

Peppermint hiding out behind some Hedera helix

Karen and Kitty, a portrait of Peppermint and me, by my husband Robert Cairone

Luke peeking out from Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

Lounging in one of their favorite places, the sunroom

Despite these sad losses, we are not cat-less here among the leaves.  Let me introduce you to Lily.  We adopted her three years ago when one of my stepkid's friends needed to re-home some of her pets.  Lily is pretty, active, curious and loving.  She has the adorable habit of sleeping in plant pots.  Here below are photographs of her doing just that, and below that is my husband's striking portrait of her, entitled Jungle Cat.

Here and above: Lily lounging in the pot of a variegated Monstera deliciosa

Jungle Cat, by Robert Cairone

She also follows me around when I care for the plants, especially when I water. (I have a hose that attaches to the kitchen faucet, which is long enough to water every plant in every room of the house. I don't know what I'd do without it. Lily, however, thinks the hose is a toy.) But she is also a plant eater, a problem I've not had with my cats before.  I've caught her nibbling on Hibiscus rosa-sinensis and Saintpaulia leaves. So she bears watching to say the least.

Cats in the Sunroom--A Pictorial

Our cats have been enjoying the sunroom as much as we have, almost from the first. So I thought I'd share some photos of them in the room, along with a couple of extra shots showcasing some of the plants.

Peppermint atop a tall ladder in the finished, but not yet painted sunroom

Maybe he wanted to help.

After the room is finished, Luke strolls in like he owns the place.

Northwest corner of the Sunroom, with Strelizia nicolai: White Bird of Paradise.

Luke and Peppermint seem far too interested in this Ledbouria socialis.

Southwest corner, with blooming Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.

"Hmm, let me see."
 Luke examines a rug I received as a Christmas present, which I've decided to display
 in the sunroom.

"Nope, doesn't look a thing like me."

In this picture, Peppermint seems pretty sanguine about his lookalike pillow.

That wasn't quite the case earlier.

Blooming Sans--I Won't Miss It This Time

The last time I wrote about one of my Sansevieria, it was because my Sansevieria francisii had flowered without my knowing it, and all I had left as evidence was a spent flower stalk and two seed pods.

My Sanseveria hargesiana also flowered earlier this year, and I missed that as well. It is not that I'm unobservant; I just have a few succulent plants tucked in out-of-the-way places. I don't check on them daily, or even weekly, since they don't need water all that often. It isn't the best cultural practice, but that's what happens sometimes when you're a crazy plant lady. A sane person would know that if you can't check on them easily, you probably have too many. Ah well, sanity is not all it is cracked up to be.

But I'm not going to miss the show this time. Look at what I spotted on my S. hargesiana earlier this week:

Sansevieria hargesiana flower stalk. The buds are not yet open, but they are getting close.

Picture of the whole plant, for reference. The leaves are a bit elongated, due to some time spent previously in a low light situation.

It has been months since I've been able to get a good picture of my cats with any of my plants. But when I put this plant on the floor in the hallway, so that I could photograph it, both of my little monsters had to check it out.

Luke checks the integrity of my potting mix (commercial mix amended with perlite and turface)...

while Peppermint checks to see if the planter is terra cotta or plastic. (It's terra cotta)

Having the cats in the pictures also gives a good idea of the size of this plant, which I've had for ten years or so. It's a big one.

New Plant: Midnight Among the Leaves

Every so often, my local Home Depot surprises me. Over the years, I've found it to be a decent place to find common houseplants, but not the place to go for anything exotic or out of the ordinary. But last week I found this plant, labeled, of course, as a generic "Tropical Houseplant"

Alpinia malaysianum, sometimes called Alpinia 'Midnight'

I've had one of these before, and it didn't fare all that well. Alpinia, and its relatives in the Zingiberaceae, (ginger family) like a lot of moisture, and wilt and shrivel and carry on if they don't get it. My first specimen was very small (only a few leaves) and wasn't vigorous enough to put up with my tendency to underwater. (My Alpinia zerumbet variegata, which was kind of large when I bought it, has flagged and bounced back a few times, after I cut off some pretty ugly old foliage. It's looking pretty good now.) I'll try to be more careful with this one.

New foliage, with its dark caramel color contrasting against the nearly black older leaves

And of course, it wouldn't be a weekend without a pet picture:

A spicy duo: Peppermint and the Alpinia. (Yes, the plant does have a gingery scent, if the stems are cut, or the roots are handled.)

If Luke had posed, I would have had a nice black and orange shot for Halloween. Also, a ginger cat with a ginger plant would be a nice visual pun. But the constant doorbell ringing from trick-or-treaters has scared my shy orange boy into hiding. The ever-intrepid Peppermint obliged by sitting next to the plant. but the effect is not quite the same.

Wistful at the Window

Peppermint, the mighty hunter turned indoor kitty, surveys his former domain, and plots his triumphant return. (Oh yeah, there are plants in the pictures too, most notably Strelitzia reginae and Epipremnum aureum on the inside, with Strobilanthes dyerianus and Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm' on the outside.)

Photographs courtesy of my husband, Bob.

Upsides, Downsides, and an Update

I live in a relatively new subdivision. One of the downsides to this, so I thought, was the relative lack of mature trees, both as street trees and in people's yards. I like neighborhoods full of graceful, mature shade trees. However, there are a couple of upsides to this. For one, much of my front yard is in full sun, the better to grow the types of annuals, perennials and bulbs I enjoy most. I'll get to the other upside in a moment.

Swath of Crocuses in my garden from last March. There is a reason why I'm reposting this unseasonal picture, which will become clear later.

Since we no longer have dogs, we've been able to seal off our doggie door to the outside. This means that our cats, which we intended to be indoor pets in the first place, cannot let themselves outdoors at will. The major upsides to that are that we don't have to worry about our cats being endangered by traffic, or having encounters with dangerous animals. (We have raccoon and foxes around, and a coyote was spotted once, several years ago.) The second major upside is that we don't have to worry about the cats having encounters with animals to which they are dangerous. Over the years, Luke and Peppermint have brought in numerous birds, mice, chipmunks and baby rabbits, some alive, some dead. The dead ones were distressing enough, but capturing and freeing the living creatures was always a frustrating task. The downside to the loss of the doggie door, is, of course, that it came about due to the deaths of Jenny and Laces, who we miss very much. But there is also a downside to not letting the cats out, which will follow.

Closer view of some of my favorite Crocuses.

The other upside to the lack of mature trees, which I was alluding to above, is that we have had very few squirrels in our neighborhood. The number has been slowly increasing over the years however, which leads to the downside of not having cats patrol our yard. With Luke, and especially Peppermint, no longer giving chase, at least one squirrel has found our yard to be a safe place to hang out, which has led to this:

Holes where at least one squirrel has dug up and consumed a number of crocus bulbs. In the second picture, with the two holes, you can see the debris from the consumed bulbs. These shots are from the same place as the drift of crocuses in the first picture I posted. I'll have to do some replanting if I want to have a nice display of flowers to herald the arrival of spring.

Since I don't want to resort to inhumane methods, I've been spreading blood meal (a readily available fertilizer) in the beds where the crocuses are planted. This, supposedly, will discourage squirrels from digging in those areas. I also lost my patience the other day, and threw a couple of rocks in the general direction of a squirrel who was hanging out in my maple tree. I wasn't aiming to hit him; I was trying to scare him away, which it did, at least for a while. It upsets me that I feel this way; I used to like squirrels, honest.

And on a cheerier note, the update:

Thelocactus lloydii in bloom

I posted a picture of this cactus shortly after I purchased it, last May. Since it has been outdoors this summer, it has bloomed three times, the third of which was the other day.

Leftovers

Well, it's the weekend. It's hot, it's been stormy, and I can't think of a thing to write about. When I plan posts, I usually take a lot of photographs to go along with them, and I seldom use them all. Sometimes, an old photograph will prove useful for a later post, but most of the time they go unseen. Which is too bad, because some of them are pretty nice.

So without further ado, here are some pictures I took for posts in June and July that ended up unused.

Houseplants and Succulents:

By mid-June, my Neoregelia 'Zoe' which had been mostly green and white, was definitely showing a nice rosy blush

Peach and Red Hibiscus rosa-sinensis in bloom

Three shots of my succulents outdoors. The large Aloe in the third picture is supposed to be Aloe vera, but I'm not 100% sure. I do love how it colors up in the sun.

Adeniums. I think the one on the left is A. obesum and the one to the right is A. arabicum.

More uncertainty. I've always thought that this was Aloe dichotoma, but I am open to the possibility that it may be A. ramosissima.

Three pots of Crassula 'Campfire'

From my Outdoor Garden:

Linum lewisii (Flax) in June. I am completely smitten with that ever-so-rare shade of blue. It is still blooming intermittantly now, but its peak is over.

Coreopsis verticillata. I think this cultivar is 'Zagreb'

Rubeckias and Echinaceas in my Coneflower bed

Another view, showing most of the bed

Last but never least, (if you ask him, he's the Most) Peppermint enjoying the garden.

Just Lounging Around

I'm still feeling a bit under the weather, and it is kind of a cloudy, lazy day here among the leaves. Luke seems to have the right idea:

Luke reclining behind my terrarium centerpiece

He does seem to be thinking, "Why is she waving that camera around while I'm trying to rest?" though.

New Plant for me, New Tree for the Cats

I was feeling a bit down on Saturday, and so I thought, what better pick-me-up than browsing at a nursery? I was looking for ideas for my outdoor containers, and of course, I'm always up for a new houseplant. This is what I brought home:

Fatsia japonica variegata

I've been wanting a Fatsia japonica for a while, and I like white variegation in plants. They aren't offered for sale much around here, so I knew I had to take a chance on one, even though they are, like Hedera, notorious spider-mite magnets. This plant will be spending a considerable amount of time outdoors, from early spring to late fall, since they are fairly hardy (to USDA Zone 7, I believe.)

And speaking of the outdoors:

Peppermint is looking wistful, because I won't open the front door for him. Since we no longer have dogs, we've closed the doggie door permanently, and he and Luke are now indoor cats. The local field mouse population is breathing a sigh of relief.

Which brings us to this:

Peppermint plays with a dangling feather toy, while Luke sniffs at the catnip embedded in the scratching pad

Since they can't go outdoors, we decided that they need something new to enjoy indoors, so we treated them to a new cat tree. I've also started a crop of cat grass for them, so they have greens to nibble on.

Goodbye, You Sweet Old Doofus

So today, we had to have Jenny, our remaining golden retriever, put to sleep. She outlived her littermate/sister, Laces, by five months. She suffered a stroke a month and half ago, and recovered reasonably well, until she had some sort of episode last night, which left her extremely confused, panicky, and near collapse. At 13 and a half years old, it was clear that her quality of life was not going to improve, and that it was time to say goodbye.

Jenny, in January. She was in power shedding mode here, full of life, and full of fur.

Jenny, a few years ago, examining the first Phalaenopsis I ever rebloomed. This picture is blurry and low-res, but it is still one of my favorites.

Jenny was a very different dog from her sister. Frankly, she was kind of dumb, kind of pushy, more than a little neurotic. But she was cute, and lovable in her own way, and I'll miss her. Life among the leaves won't be the same without her.