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wombat1138This has been a bad year for attempting houseplants.
Attempt #1: Small potted kalamansi tree (it's a kind of citrus) from the farmers' market, bought in full bloom with lots of lovely jasmine-scented flowers that turned into round green fruits. The number of fruits quickly decreased once the cats discovered how delightfully they rolled around when knocked off. Cats lost interest when the attrition rate was about 50%; the remaining fruits had reached their peak size and were starting to turn yellow-orange. However, at that point Spot decided to convert the kalamansi pot to a litterbox. (It's not just the kalamansi-- there'a also a half-empty large plant pot out on the deck from my previous mini-citrus tree-- a Makrut lime which lasted 2-3 years until it was killed by paint fumes-- upon whose dirt Spot has been regularly bestowing his attentions. I don't get it, esp. since I make no attempt to scoop poop out of there; I don't even want to look into it to determine what the present poop-to-dirt ratio may be.) Nothing would dissuade him-- covering the surface with small rocks, hanging orange peels around the pot, nothin'. Result: dead kalamansi tree now exiled to front balcony with sad mummified fruits clinging to the branches.
Attempt #2: We bought a lot of green onions but didn't use all of them, so I tried to plant them in the kalamansi dirt (before the tree died; it was another try at keeping Spot out of there). Both cats decided that green onions were also nifty toys and kept dragging them out of there, shaking dirt in all directions and leaving them in odd corners. Result: threw out sadly mangled green onions; also, onion-chomping may've triggered Shadow's bout of hepatic lipidosis (onions and garlic are very bad for both cats and dogs).
Attempt #3: Having concluded that cat-carnage would be the inevitable fate of any plant in the house, I bought some live catnip. It's a remarkably flourishing specimen, with several leafy stems up to 1 foot tall. Result: on introduction, cats chewed the flowers off the top (and acted loopy for the rest of the afternoon), but have completely ignored it since then.
*headdesk*
Attempt #1: Small potted kalamansi tree (it's a kind of citrus) from the farmers' market, bought in full bloom with lots of lovely jasmine-scented flowers that turned into round green fruits. The number of fruits quickly decreased once the cats discovered how delightfully they rolled around when knocked off. Cats lost interest when the attrition rate was about 50%; the remaining fruits had reached their peak size and were starting to turn yellow-orange. However, at that point Spot decided to convert the kalamansi pot to a litterbox. (It's not just the kalamansi-- there'a also a half-empty large plant pot out on the deck from my previous mini-citrus tree-- a Makrut lime which lasted 2-3 years until it was killed by paint fumes-- upon whose dirt Spot has been regularly bestowing his attentions. I don't get it, esp. since I make no attempt to scoop poop out of there; I don't even want to look into it to determine what the present poop-to-dirt ratio may be.) Nothing would dissuade him-- covering the surface with small rocks, hanging orange peels around the pot, nothin'. Result: dead kalamansi tree now exiled to front balcony with sad mummified fruits clinging to the branches.
Attempt #2: We bought a lot of green onions but didn't use all of them, so I tried to plant them in the kalamansi dirt (before the tree died; it was another try at keeping Spot out of there). Both cats decided that green onions were also nifty toys and kept dragging them out of there, shaking dirt in all directions and leaving them in odd corners. Result: threw out sadly mangled green onions; also, onion-chomping may've triggered Shadow's bout of hepatic lipidosis (onions and garlic are very bad for both cats and dogs).
Attempt #3: Having concluded that cat-carnage would be the inevitable fate of any plant in the house, I bought some live catnip. It's a remarkably flourishing specimen, with several leafy stems up to 1 foot tall. Result: on introduction, cats chewed the flowers off the top (and acted loopy for the rest of the afternoon), but have completely ignored it since then.
*headdesk*
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no subject
on 2008-07-17 02:23 am (UTC)no subject
on 2008-07-17 08:44 pm (UTC)If there's one constant principle in the universe I have faith in, it's that cats are perverse agents of entropy except when they don't feel like it.
no subject
on 2008-07-17 09:13 am (UTC)no subject
on 2008-07-17 08:46 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2008-07-17 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2008-07-17 08:43 pm (UTC)While prepping for recent Adventures in Plumbing, I did notice that the local OSH has some kalamansi mini-trees, so maybe I'll try getting a replacement from there eventually. *And* keep it outside on the front step where I'll actually remember to water it and it'll be safely out of cat range (at least for our cats).