What plants do cats like in an atrium? What to avoid?

On Thu, 30 Jul 2015 14:35:37 -0400, jmcquown
wrote:

On 7/30/2015 2:28 PM, dgk wrote:
On Wed, 29 Jul 2015 21:51:22 -0500, MaryL
wrote:

On 7/27/2015 4:05 PM, dgk wrote:

http://goodcats.com/toxicplants.html

Jill

Seriously? It's amazing that they llive in the wild at all!

Some of those lists include everything from plants that might give a cat
a stomach-ache, if it ate the entire plant, to ones that would kill a
cat outright. Most plants aren't particularly harmful. Most cats I've
met have loved asparagus ferns, and eaten them right down to the roots
if you don't catch them first, without any harm, yet they're on that list.

Don't grow catnip. I did that once outdoors, and I swear every cat in
the area made a beeline for the spot and turned it into a mini-dustbowl.

What about finding out how your neighbours have decorated their atriums
(atria?)? It sounds like a lovely feature to have.

Cheryl

I did check out someone's atrium and they did it nicely. It's an odd
idea, but because of how the house is designed, it's really necessary.
They build the houses all the way on the very edge of the lot (they
calll them "zero lot line" houses). On each house, the zero side gets
no windows, so my outside is pretty private, and I can't see my
neighbor's yard, etc. Of course you can walk around the house, but my
land actually ends at the end of the house.

So, that side of the house would be dark except that the atrium lets
in a ton of light, and it borders on the dining room and living room,
so each room looks out on the atrium.

I'm thinking massive waterfall, like Niagra or such. Or maybe just a
little thing, since it's only 60 square feet. All my neighbors down
here are recommending one garrdener, so I'll have him come in and set
something up. I really have no idea whether to have it all on the
ground or have somethings on raised areas. But I don't want things
going too high. It's only about 10 feet to the roof and I wouldn't
want the cats climbing out!

Here's a picture of the thing:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/276109...posted-public/

That looks nice. I have a friend who had a similar atrium in her town
house. One thing you should probably ask the gardener and neighbors
with similar atriums (based on my friend's experience) is for
suggestions so you can have plants but be sure to avoid plantings that
would contribute to growth of mildew.

MaryL

I'll use the gardener that all the other folks seem to use. He knows
the local conditions. (hot and humid!)

Good luck adjusting to the heat & humidity. I've lived in the south
since I was a teenager and still don't tolerate it well.

I hope you and the cats are adjusting.

Jill

So far, so good. The cats are freaked out but getting used to the idea
that this is now home. They don't get hit with the humidity yet, but
they also weren't big fans of air conditioning.

Baby has the most to adjust. Their other main feeder, Serene, is also
moving to Florida, but near Tampa. So Baby would have lost her main
feeders. I feel sorry for Jet and Buddy, who were too feral to take.
There is one person left feeding them, but I don't know how long she
will last.

"dgk" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 26 Jul 2015 10:03:48 -0400, jmcquown
wrote:

On 7/26/2015 9:56 AM, dgk wrote:
We're settling into our new Florida home. Unlike my old Queens NY
home, I don't have a fenced in backyard here so I can't let the cats
out. Oh, I might eventually fence in part of the yard and let them out
in that, but the development takes care of the outside so if you fence
in part of it, you have to take care of it. I'd prefer not to do that.

I'm thinking of a movable fence, so I can let them out sometimes and
then roll the fence up, but that's fairly complicated.

But I do have an atrium. It's around 6' by 10', (2 * 3 meters or so)
and is open to the sky. Right now it's just partly gravel and partly
mulch, with only one plant, a nice multicolored bushy thing. There is
a sliding glass door that opens into it from the dining room.
Supposedly local pet stores sell some piece of glass that I can use as
a pet door. I don't want to let them into it yet since currently it
resembles a giant litter box.

What kind of plants would the cats like in there? Catnip? That could
be a mess. What to avoid? I don't want to poison them, but of course
they used to go out into a yard that had lots of strange stuff and
they never got poisoned. Lots of outdoor cats avoid getting poisoned.

I wonder if a gardener would know how to set that up? I can't be the
first one to wonder about it.

Things to avoid:

http://goodcats.com/toxicplants.html

Jill

Seriously? It's amazing that they llive in the wild at all!

My cat has never poisoned himself with any sort of plant. He is very
sensible about going out especially about cars.
Yes, I do worry when he is out longer than I expect but I want him to have a
cat life and go outside looking at rats and mice. I always think if he is
late in, he's been run over by a car. He never is. He isn't stupid.
I could stay in to keep myself safe too. Never go out. Just in case the one
time I went out I got hit by a bus.
So we live with the chance.