Jake's Mancat Monday Pose
Here I am in the dark recesses of our jungle garden.
We really love our garden, and Mom and Dad worked very hard to create it over many years--mainly in the 1990s. Mom loves wildflowers and is a member of the Prince William Wildflower Society, a chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society. She and Dad created a very naturalistic, wild kind of garden both in the front and back yards. Our lot is only a 10,000 square foot suburban yard, but our house is small (by today's standards), so there is more room to garden. The lot is shaped like a rectangle with a triangle attached to the back portion that slopes downward. Mom and Dad hauled many rocks from construction sites (from as far away as South Riding, Daisy!), and Dad made some great terraced beds on the hill with them. He also outlined some of the beds with them.
One thing you won't see in our garden is a great lawn. Mom and Dad really reduced the lawn portion of the garden, and the lack of sunlight over the years as the trees have grown has further diminished the area for grass. Mom and Dad do not use pesticides or herbicides so the lawn is "weedy" with lots of clover, but that's okay by me.
Perennials are the mainstay, with annuals mostly planted in pots for the deck. A red maple grows in the middle of the deck that Dad built back in 1995. Many of the garden plants are native to Virginia. Much of the garden is shady, so spring is when it is most colorful. We have native and non-native azaleas, but the non-native ones are more showy. One side of the yard does get quite a bit of sun, so summer is also a treat with monarda, purple coneflower, milkweed, phlox, and daylilies.
Many birds nest in our yard, and Mom and Dad try to keep me inside or under watchful eye when the babies fledge. So far this year we have blue jays in the bushes, and wrens and sparrows in a couple of the bird boxes. The catbirds must be nesting close by because they're making frequent appearances at the suet. They will be very happy when the Oregon grape holly bush and service berry/juneberry (amelanchier) tree bear their fruit soon.
~Jake the Mancat Garden Supervisor
posted by Jake and Bathsheba @ 10:58 PM
12 Comments:
Dat looks like a grate place to hang out, fur a man cat such as yoorself.
How manly you look, surrounded by nature. Your yard sounds like a wonderland for cats.
Oh, I love your garden! Mom really wants to do the same thing. We have lawn at our main house, cause that what was there to start with, and the subdivision we are in kind of expects it. But she is trying to do the same thing at our mountain house. We shall see...
Love the Saturday Stalking!
Tara
You have a really special garden. Your Mom and Dad must have put a lot of work into it. The results are wonderful. How nice to have so many birds to watch!
Great Mancat photo! You have a wonderful garden. It sounds amazing.
Over here in Germany, there isn't much space, so people have very small yards, when they have one at all. Most people don't live in single family homes - they live in houses that are shared by multiple families, or in apartments or flats. Yards and gardens, when people have them, are tiny, because there just isn't much space.
mi mom wishez we hadda byootiful garden, jake. u look hansum an manlee az a garden soopervizer.
maybe sumday mi mom will plant da butterfly gardern she haz alwayz wanned ... den i can soopervize miself.
luv--yer grate frend--jh
Jake you look so great protecting the garden!!
That garden looks very cool. You look very manly out there. I like your stripes.
Love,
Tazo
I really like natural looking gardens like yours. And I think it is so much better for the environment too. It sounds like getting the rocks was a lot of work, but it was worth it, because I think the rocks look beautiful! And now the garden is a much better place for handsome mancat poses than it would be with just a big lawn!
you does look furry manly
I snoopervise Mom when she's in our garden too, but I have to do it from the window 'cause I'm not allowed out.
George
I invented the Prince William Wildflower Society.
You're very lucky to have such talented gardners, Jake. My mom has all but given up this year with anything new. Although we are trying vegetables in containers. No romaine lettuce though--not very considerate if you ask me.
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