A lovely shade garden…

I’ve been reconciling myself to the fact that the fig trees, as wonderful as they are, provide too much shade for me to have a yard full of peonies, roses, hydrangeas, and other sun-worshippers.

Fortunately, I’ve found numerous shade-loving plants that I am intrigued by and think might be nice additions to the shady areas around the perimeter of the yard…or even replace some of the sparse grass in some places.

Ellen over at GardenBytes has  some great photos of shade gardens (among many other gorgeous things!)  Check her out – her site is fantastic.

Here’s one of her shade garden photos that inspired me:

What a great combination of colors and textures and heights…I just love it.  Ellen, if you’re out there, I’d love to know what you’ve got planted here!

At a recent trip to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, I spotted this little patch of blue that made my heart sing:

I just love it.   It really stands out next to the white and green.  (anyone know what that is, by the way?)

Here’s the close up:

Then my brain did the math…plumbaginoides?? Could this ‘Autumn Leadwort’ be one and the same as the Plumbago ground cover that likes shade?  I’m hoping so, because Bev, my gardening guru friend back home in PA,  might have some for me!!  It would make my heart sing to see these little blue flowers in my yard next year!

This weekend I’ll be heading to PA and Bev is sending me home with plants, hoses, seeds, screens, and all kinds of gardening goodies – how lucky am I?  I am tingling with excitement!

Kitties on the back porch…

There are many feral cats living in our yard and in the yards of all of our neighbors.  They come around and hang out, snooze on or under our bench, pass through on their way to somewhere else, and a daredevil we call Angelo occasionally climbs one of our fig trees.  (The birds like the figs, hence the cats like the fig trees.)  The cats especially like our yard in the morning.  Our own three marvelous cats like to sit in the windows and watch them.  Telly, a former feral cat himself, chatters away to them every morning.  They don’t seem interested in a dialog.

They are sweet cats but shy of humans, as ferals are.  I intend to trap as many of these cats as I can and take them to the ASPCA mobile units to be de-flead, treated for ear mites, vaccinated, and most importantly – spayed or neutered.  It’s a great service that they provide to people who take the class, as I did, on trap-neuter-return, or TNR.

In the meantime, I’m trying to keep track of as many of our regular visitors as I can.  The binoculars my sister gave me are coming in hand when I need a closer look to see if any of them have their left ear “tipped” (and some do!) – that’s the international sign for “this cat has already been trapped and neutered by someone else.”  So if an ear-tipped cat goes into your trap, you know you can let them go right away, (unless they need medical attention, of course!)

Last week we had several days and nights of rain.  One morning before work I woke up to this little scene right out of our bedroom windows:

That’s Merv.  He’s a young Russian Blue mix who needs to be neutered.  Smart guy – not only did he take advantage of the porch awning to have a dry place to sleep all night, he also discovered the hammock-like comfort of our camp chair and had evidently snoozed there all night!

Hard to get a good shot with a camera and through a screen…here he is again.  He had been curled up like a little doughnut, but stood up once I came to the window.  Still, he made no attempt to leave his cozy and dry little nook.

At closer inspection, I noticed he had a buddy…

This little guy was sleeping under a bag, on top of a soft pair of shoes I had left on the porch.  They are nearly twins, and I believe they might be brothers because they look to be around the same age – I’d guess about  months old.  I’ve seen them both around on several occasions, but never this close.   This guy, who we call Monte, is already ear-tipped.

We think there is a woman somewhere on our block who has some winter shelters for them and who has been getting them neutered…not fast enough, though!  There are at least 7 cats who are not yet neutered, and that means kittens galore if we don’t do anything about it.    Soon…

In the meantime, we’re enjoying their company.