Plants for Cats - Catnip and more

 Catmint Seeds

Houseplants are growing in popularity. Research has found (me asking around) that it’s millennials setting the new trend of rekindling the 1970’s popularity for spider plants, cheese plants and aspidistras. The common aspidistra has been a favourite of hallways since the Victorian era as they are shade, draft and neglect tolerant but since the 1980’s over 100 new varieties have emerged to tempt the new homeowners.

The range of indoor plants also caters for our feline friends. Not all cats manage to get outside where they can avail of the delights of ingesting grass, which is said to improve their digestion. Cats also seem to have a huge attraction to certain mint plants too and will happily sit in/on them all summer.  For this reason I’ve decided to grow some plants in pots especially for cats that live in the house and don’t get out much.

Plants for Cats

Catnip is the best known plant for a cats pleasure, many a toy has been stuffed with the dried leaves which in turn sends the cat into a frenzy. It affects cats in various ways, from a soft nuzzle to a fully blown euphoric meltdown.  Only about 80% of cats are effected but they might be partial to some other type of plant that contains Nepetalactone,  an organic compound that is the active ingredient. Nepetalactone also repels cockroaches and mosquitos so it’s a win win for you and the cat.

Here are the most popular types of plants to get kitty in a tizzy. I have just received the Catnip, Cat’s Grass, Catmint and Catmint Lemon and will be sowing the seeds now to give them an early start for spring. I’ll be testing them out of my mother in laws usually sedate moggie to see if it works. I’ll keep you posted.

Catnip (Nepata cataria) is a perennial. Cat's find it hard resist the intoxicating scent of this plant. The leaves have a mint-like smell.  Catnip can be grown in pots or the garden. Like most herbs in the mint family, catnip can easily spread and take over outside if allowed to. Responsive cats enjoy a psychosexual reaction that lasts up to 15 minutes, after which cats lose interest in the herb for at least an hour. The stems are as easy to dry as any other mint, and dried catnip retains is psychoactive powers for many months when stored in a cool, dry, dark place. Catnip flowers attract pollinators and other beneficial insects in droves so maybe I won’t let them flower in the house.

Cat grass -(Dactylis glomerata) is more commonly known as orchard grass, and it is also attractive to cats. It apparently helps to remove fur balls and maintain their good health and great for the indoor cat.  Cat Grass is a good aid to help add missing vitamins and minerals  so might be the favourite to grow indoors. Seeds of wheat, oats and rye also can be grown as cat grass.  

Catnip Lemon - (Nepata cataria Citriodora) is a perennial, that is very similar to catnip but with a more delicate hint of lemon aroma. Its natural habitat is on roadside banks but will hopefully do well in a pot on a sunny table in the porch.

Catmint mussinii – The last of my choice experiment plants. This Catmint produces attractive grey-green foliage topped with spikes of lavender flowers. Cats may flatten the plants so I’ll be careful with this one as it might have to be put outside. 

Other Plants to Delight Cats

Here are a few more plants which cats seem to enjoy in the garden - not in pots. I would have loved to have known about these a few years ago when I rescued a stray cat. I put it in the boot of my car and somehow it found its way into the chassis through the side panel. I had to drive around with it in the interior lining of the car for three days until it decided to show its face and have some food. If I had these plants I could have lured it out much sooner. It was non the worse for the ordeal and after a good meal it disappeared into the wild again.

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)  Cats become excited when they encounter valerian roots, which contain a compound called actinidine that is thought to work as a semi-psychotic stimulant for cats.

Cat thyme (Teucrium marum) is not a thyme but a germander, a group of fragrant herbs that grows best when given fertile soil, full sun, and great drainage. Cat thyme can grow to two feet (60 cm) when protected from cats, which is nearly impossible.

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) is surprisingly attractive to cats, plus you can use the leaves in cooking.

Micro Clover

I like to grow something new every year choosing both edible and ornamental plants. 

Over the last three years I have slowly grown my selection of ground cover plants from chamomiles to Irish Moss and then creeping thyme last year. All three are proving to be very popular so this year I am adding a new plant to the list- White clover.

Clover is seen as a weed in most gardens but this wasn’t always the case. Like the thyme, these plants were very popular in the past and whole lawns were made from them until the rise of herbicides to eliminate weeds in the grass in the 1950’s. 

With more awareness of how much energy lawns need these alternatives, which require less water, fertilizer, compost, herbicide, and weeding than conventional lawns are growing in popularity. They do however need a lot more maintenance!

There are two types of clover planting: pure clover lawns, which are best for areas with low or moderate traffic, and mixed grass-clover lawns, which are best for playing fields and other high traffic areas.

Advantages of Clover

It stays green all summer, with little or no watering. It is relatively drought-tolerant and it greens up early in spring and remains green most of the year. 

It requires little or no mowing. White clover grows just 2-8 inches tall and requires little or no mowing to keep it looking tidy. A cut in summer does keep the flowers to a minimum though if needed.

It attracts beneficial insects such as bees which, in turn, help pollinate your garden. It also attracts parasitic wasps which feed on aphids, scales, and whiteflies. 

It never needs fertilizer. Cover is a nitrogen-fixing legume, a plant that essentially creates its own fertilizer. Grass that is intermixed with clover will be healthier and greener and require less care than grass planted alone which is why it’s great in amenity areas.

It out-competes other weeds and is very persistent.  It has a dense root structure that allows it to easily out-compete most other weeds and reduce the need for herbicides.

Clover grows well in poor soil. It tolerates a wide variety of soil conditions, including the poor-quality subsoil common around many new homes.

Clover tolerates compacted soil better than grasses do and even tends reduce compaction, eliminating the need to aerate.

Disadvantages of Clover

It stains clothing more easily than grass.

It is not durable enough for playing fields or high traffic areas, unless mixed with grass.

It is a short-lived perennial and may require reseeding every 2-3 years to maintain an even stand in pure clover lawns. In mixed grass-clover lawns, clover will reseed itself adequately to maintain a consistent presence.

White clover isn’t really shade-resistant; in fact, it will not grow well in shade: it will sprout there, but it won’t thrive. (lawn grasses won’t grow well in shade either.)

My Choice- Micro Clover

The plants I have chosen to grow this year are a different variety to the regular invasive type. They are called Micro Clover. There are a few types around but this one seems the best and is called ‘Pipolina’ and are not unlike Shamrocks (Trifolium dubium)

Micro-clover has been around for a decade or so in Europe and has proved to be very reliable in amenity areas and also in lawn alternatives and on the edge of paths. Unlike the larger variety these plants don’t colonize whole areas. 

It’s really just an extra-small form of white clover (Trifolium repens) It can be used to create mixed or pure clover lawns that are shorter than Dutch white clover (the lawn industry standard) and that also require less mowing. If you have young children then the micro clover doesn’t flower much (or at all if you mow 4 times a year) which will keep the bees away.

A micro-clover lawn.

The plants only reach 6 inches (15 cm) high even if you never mow it. And if you mow occasionally, it will top out at 4 inches (10 cm). Its leaves are twice as small as those of white clover, three times smaller if you mow (regrowth gives even smaller leaves). 

Although micro-clover was designed for mixed lawns, it has been tested as a stand-alone groundcover and does fine when used that way. 

Top Tip for sowing the seed

Lawn specialists recommend using both clover and grass seed to establish the healthiest lawn possible. However, don’t spread these different types of seeds together. Since clover seed is so small and dense, and usually clumps together at the bottom of the spreader or seed bag, spreading with grass seed usually results in uneven coverage. Instead, determine your desired ratio of clover to grass and spread separately.

Mini Woodlands - William Robinson

I’ve dabbled if forest gardening occasionally. It’s a great way of utilising small neglected areas of the garden.

What is Forest Gardening?

Forest gardening is a low-maintenance sustainable plant-based food production and agroforestry system based on woodland ecosystems. The planting generally includes layers of fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines, perennial vegetables and ground cover plants which have yields directly useful to humans. The system will require some annual maintenance but not as much as a regular vegetable plot. 

If even that seems a bit too high maintenance for you or you don’t have the room then how about planting mini woodland?  You don’t even need to plant any edibles and you’ll still be helping the environment  as the primary reason would be to promote wildlife and reduce pollution. I think it’ll be the planting favourite of 2019 as we are going to see examples in most of this year’s flower shows.

Mini Woodlands

In the past, most horticultural show exhibits featured gardens with painstakingly pruned bushes, flawless flowers, weed free beds and manicured lawns. This has changed over the last few years with gardens concentrating on using recyclables, renewable energy, minimalist planting and after last year’s heat wave, drought tolerant planting. 

This year we’ll see planting schemes hoping to cool the gardens down with tree canopies, or at least give us somewhere to sit under in the shade when the sun does come out in force. With that prediction for 2019 I’d also think we will see cooling water features being a popular addition to the garden. 

Trees though are the single most efficient way for gardeners to improve our environment and help wildlife. Creating a miniature woodland will encourage wildlife and help reduce pollution particularly in urban areas.  Well-chosen small trees, such as ornamental and fruiting apples and cherries will be trouble free and for small gardens, shrubs can be used to good effect.

Birch trees are noted for pollution catching properties and also do surprisingly well in pots of soil-based potting media where space is very tight on a patio or back yard.  

This year at one large show there will be a Resilience Garden for the Forestry Commission, which showcases the ‘forests of the future’ and the trees that are resilient to the impending impact of climate change.  I don’t have any more details at present but have been told it will draw attention to the issues facing forests, woods and horticulture today.  Warmer climate facilitates pests and diseases, which can wipe out forests that are made up of only a few species. Because of this, the Forestry Commission is working to plant a greater variety of trees to safeguard our forests and woods for the future.  

William Robinson

I think it’s fair to say that one person who was and is a great influence on this new movement of wild gardening is a Laois born gardener and journalist called William Robinson (5 July 1838 – 17 May 1935) His ideas about wild gardening spurred the movement that led to the popularising of the English cottage garden.

He radically changed Victorian gardening, with his rants against bedding plants, his support of the wild garden, and his monumental book The English Flower Garden, which went into 15 editions in his lifetime.  

His most significant influence I think was the introduction of the idea of wild gardening, which first appeared in The Wild Garden and was further developed in The English Flower Garden.

The idea of introducing large drifts of hardy perennial plants into meadow, woodland, and waterside is taken for granted today, but was revolutionary in Robinson's time. In the first edition, he happily used any plant that could be naturalised, including half-hardy perennials and natives from other parts of the world, which meant the wild garden was not limited to locally native species. 

Robinson's own garden at Gravetye was planted on a large scale, but his wild garden idea could be realised in small plots, where the 'garden' is designed to appear to merge into the surrounding woodland or meadow. Robinson's ideas continue to influence gardeners and landscape architects today—from home and cottage gardens to large estate and public gardens. 

This year I think we’ll be hearing a lot more of William Robinson’s ideas in modern designs, with a few more trees thrown in for good luck.

Why do Birds Suddenly Appear?

Friendly Robins

Robins are often associated with gardeners, following them around and sitting on the spade handle when you are having a rest. You might even have a robin in the garden that is tame enough to feed by hand. It also means robins are incredibly easy to photograph close up and will happily pose for a photo.

There are a few reasons which may explain why robins appear friendlier than other birds (even though they are pretty territorial themselves and will fight other robins attempting to get a look in). When robins live in the wild in woods or forests they are known to follow large mammals, such as wild boar or deer, using their inbuilt curiosity to find new ways to find food.

As the animals move around they disturb the ground bringing worms and insects to the surface which robins can easily forage on. In more urban areas robins are mimicking this behaviour by following humans, taking advantage of the freshly dug up soil to find food.

Robins in other areas of Europe aren’t quite as trusting, hardly leaving the cover of the forest.  There has long been a tradition of hunting and trapping small birds on the continent so robins have remained fearful of humans. Here in Ireland they have co-existed with humans for many years and learned that there is no threat in being close to us. In fact they may be at an advantage by being friendly towards humans as they are rewarded with food.

How Do Birds Find Food?

We had quite a long break putting food out for the birds over the summer and autumn. There doesn’t seem any point when there is an abundance of food elsewhere and it keeps them from being totally dependent on us to feed them.

We started putting out the fat balls and seed a week or so ago and it’s amazing just how quickly the birds twig on to the fact their dinner is not dangling eight feet from the ground from a wire mesh container. For an hour or two there was nothing, then one bird, then 3, then ten and it wasn’t long before three or four different types of bird types were flying around making a ruckus.

It’s that same sort of experience when you drop a chip on the beach and within a few seconds the seagulls make you think you are in a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds.

Our garden feathered friends are always around though even if we don’t see or hear them. Being small and warm-blooded, birds need to eat frequently to keep their energy levels up so they spend much of the time on the lookout for new food sources. They will fly around or survey the area from the tops of trees constantly searching for anything that could be a potential new source of food and our gardens will probably be surveyed on a daily fly-by.

Most birds use vision to find food. And because they spend so much time searching for food they become quite good at it. Birds also have good memories which helps them remember where food may be or look out for changes in the landscape that may signal food is about.

A Keen Eye

Birds may even be able to recognize bird feeders, not because of evolution, but simply because they are familiar with them. They may also start to learn the routines of people putting out food in their garden. There are times you’ll go out in the garden to be greeted with a few birds already waiting for you.

Once a bird has found a source of food, it generally can’t keep the new found supply to itself. In the excitement it may call to its mate or if there is plenty to go round to other members of its flock. However, if other uninvited birds turn up then they may begin fighting over food and the threat calls can alert other birds that something interesting is going on so they will join the party.

Despite this, sometimes new feeders can be left neglected for days or even weeks. We had one a few years ago which was never touched. I think it could have been the fact that we put it too close to the house and the only birds brave enough to come forward would have been robins. The feeder was filled with peanuts though which robins don’t really go for so everything went a bit mouldy. It’s a bit of trial and error getting the perfect food and spot for the birds in your garden but they will soon know when you get it right.

A Happy new gardening year to all