Both my cats like pheasant grass as it creates a low fountain shape that they hide under, keeps them in the shade on hot days and they love to pounce from under it!
Thank you all for your great comments. Yes, the cats are only going to be looking at the flora from their enclosures about a metre away - that's why I mentioned colour and movement. So, I think you're right- choose plants which staff and volunteers will enjoy, and ones which will be straightforward. Maybe grasses, the pyracantha and bird feeders!
I've housed a stray that had never had a home before, I found her living in my shed. Now she lives in the house, She has bird feeders outside the window and I've made a mesh screen and leave the window open and she hasn't wanted to go outside at all in nearly a year! Just happy watching the birds from her cushion on the windowsill with a pot of garden grass to chew. I leave the door open but she has no interest in going out, she's just so happy to have a home bless her!
A bird bath would be a great addition, very entertaining!!
My son used to let his indoor cat watch 'Cat tv' on his laptop .... Utube films of birds at feeders and birdbaths ... kept him (and son) amused for hours ...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
If they are just looking at the plants (which is what I thought originally) rather than being able to reach them then please the humans as the cats won't care.
The bird bath is a great idea. I got one a few months back and my cat loves to sit and watch the birds. She chatters at them sometimes (especially when they hop closer to the french doors).
You can get really nice resin ones online quite cheaply (people are surprised when I tell them it's plastic). I used three ground pegs to secure it into the ground.
I would agree with all of the above. My cat loves long grass to curl up in and snooze in the sun, bushes of any kind to sleep under in the shade and she loves the bog standard cat mint, which if given the chance can make quite a large plant. I have several plants around the garden, all protected with upturned, firmly pinned down old, rusty, wire mesh hanging baskets. My cat spreadeagles herself over the top of the basket and chews any wayward shoots which grow through the mesh. I did try growing various other cat mint varieties, Giant Severn Hills etc. which she studiously ignored but ordinary nepeta, easily grown from seed, and she is happy. She also likes a fluffy grass,stipa tenufolia tenuissima, to dive into and chase imaginary mice or my fingers. Could be grown in a large pot as a feature. High places to view the world, sheltered corners out of the wind to sun bathe and the cats will be happy.
Our elderly indoor cat seems to like watching birds through the window, and cat TV as well, and he likes to chew on grass - it seems to help him bring up furball (I have mixed feelings about that ). As the cats aren't going to be going out, plants to attract birds for them to watch might be good, although if the birds can see or hear the cats they might stay away.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Posts
Yes, the cats are only going to be looking at the flora from their enclosures about a metre away - that's why I mentioned colour and movement.
So, I think you're right- choose plants which staff and volunteers will enjoy, and ones which will be straightforward.
Maybe grasses, the pyracantha and bird feeders!
A bird bath would be a great addition, very entertaining!!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I assume your cats are in a secure “catio” run though.