…that I did work today, which is notable, and now it is noted.
The work consisted of digging three holes, which isn’t as easy as you might think, those of you who unaccountably do not live on two acres of glacial moraine, or at the very least two acres of shale thinly covered with what we’ll call soil.
Why, you ask, was I moved to do work on a fine Maine morning when I ought to have been, um, writing?
Well, I’m glad you asked that question. Alert readers will recall that several days ago I acquired, in defiance of both the Lawn Guy’s Assistant, and the neighbor’s road-crossing, if not actually free-ranging chickens, plants for the Cat Garden, which has, through the direct intervention of said Forces of Nature more or less become a Weed Garden.
It had been hot and humid the last few days, not at all the sort of weather to encourage a sedentary and overweight author of more than middle years to go outside and dig holes in the garden. So, I left the plants, in their pots, in approximately the locations I had chosen for their eventual homes. I watered them each day, but they were looking sort of droopy and sad by this morning, so it was just very fortunate that today was gorgeously blue, and breezy, and dry, and of a temperature that someone who lives in Maine would find reasonable for July.
So! Three holes. Not exactly in the locations previously chosen — did I mention we live on shale? Also there are trees, and trees have roots. Lots of roots. No, really; look it up.
In between the rocks and roots, then — three holes.
One hole for the Cherry Pops Bee Balm which replaces the Murdered Bee Balm of yesteryear. Bee balm attracts butterflies, hummingbirds, and, well, bees. This particular sort claims to be deer and mildew resistant.
One hole for the Wishing Well Plantain Lily, aka Hosta Wishing Well. This plant attracts hummingbirds and has a mounding habit, so I envision a Mountain of Hosta in my future.
The third and final hole — actually the first dug — was for the White Frost Hemerocallis — aka a day lily with a curly yellow trumpet not only bigger than my head, but damn’ near bigger than Trooper. It is two feet high. Who can say no to a two-foot-high day lily that has flowers the size of a coon cat? It’s big enough to be sentient. Indeed, I have some hope that it will be writing next year’s book.
I will also mention here that I have received and have been testing various bug repellents. It is in my mind to go with the least application that is still effective. To that end, I began today with the bug repellent bracelet, fully expecting that I would need to come inside and upgrade.
In this, I was disappointed. I did hear one rather insistent buzz, but closer inspection revealed the author to be a hummingbird, who was apparently under the impression that he was paying me for these plantings, and I could pick the pace up a bit, if I didn’t mind. Or, given hummingbirds, even if I did mind.
So, having now made the record complete, I believe I’ll. . .
. . .do some work.
A triumph!
Sorry to have to bring this up but … links too numerous to put here (google “day lilies cat”) all suggest that lilies and cats should not exist together, and in fact won’t. I love your pictures of all the cats, and want to keep seeing more. Please find some other type of plant?
Err. You missed the part about how I was digging holes outside to put the plants into? Or you think that I let my cats go outside to mingle with the fishers and the coyotes and the cars?
The cats are fine. The day lilies (we have several patches of day lilies here and there around the property) are fine.
Most, if not all, houseplants are not good to dangerous to fatal to cats. So we don’t have houseplants. Back in the day, I had African violets and spider plants and jade plants, and a friend had given me a calla lily — but Archie was too smart to eat any of them. I’m thinking most cats are too smart to eat anything that’s going to make them sick, but nowadays I’d rather be careful for them.
I used to have a cat that adored Dracena Marginata and gave them all severe haircuts. I gave up on the dracenas. The cat has passed away, but I don’t want to be bothered with houseplants any more.
I noticed you mentioned that your bee balm purports to be deer resistant; I’ll keep that in mind. Our hostas have been deer attractants; the deer left them alone until they bloomed then promptly ate them down to the ground. This year for some reason they have ignored the sole remaining hosta in the front yard even after it bloomed and I’ve been enjoying it when I go out to check the mail. The back yard hostas are safe behind a 6 foot wooden fence that they can’t see through, so the deer won’t jump into the back yard.
Oops. I was misled by the phrase “Cat Garden”. Apologies.
I was touched by the thoughtfulness of my singing group, who gave me a Christmas cactus only after checking to make sure it was safe for kitties.
Ah. The Cat Garden serves two purposes: One, it is the place where the ashes of the cats who have gone before are buried; Two, since one of the preferred window seats directly overlooks the site, we planted a butterfly garden there, so the cats could have additional spring and summer entertainment by watching the butterflies and the bees, and the hummingbirds.
It’s nice when people are considerate of your lifestyle, and think about their gifts to you.