What a beautiful kitty Gracie is! I think this is a great idea! My kitties, Frasier & Niles, are brothers from the same litter and they look nearly identical, except Frasier has a little more white on the blaze on his chest. They love hanging out on the balcony, I just have to watch them or they will eat some of the plants (crocuses & mint seem to be the favorites). As long as I have plants lining the South wall or pull down the blinds, they can't get off the balcony onto the roof.

Frasier, about to munch the crocuses (not allowed):
{{gwi:333335}}

Frasier, after being scolded for eating the crocuses:
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Niles, chasing the light reflections:
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Niles, checking the new WS sprouts:
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Niles, wondering when these hyacinths will bloom:
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Higher vantage point:
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Sidney is my little garden buddy. She so loves being outside in nice weather.

This is her in the wisteria:

{{gwi:333342}}Checking out the sweet william:
{{gwi:333344}}

Alright! I need to buy a camera!

sister k - your two boys are sooo cute! how high up is your balcony? i'm so afraid to let Gracie out for fear she won't realize there's 11 stories of nothing where the balcony ends ...

stlgirl - luv that Sydney! Especially the shot of her oh-so-daintily sniffing the sweet williams! LOL!

Prof - a camera is a requisite around here. We absolutely love pics - of everything!

PV

I had a gardening buddy named White Cat. She adopted me when her owner died. I fed her twice a day on the front porch. During one of our snows this year, she disappeared. I've walked the neighborhood looking for her, but I haven't found anything. I doubt she would have allowed anyone to take her in. She was a free spirit. On Wednesdays, she got a can of cat food as a treat for keeping the squirrels and other cats out of the beds. She never pooped in my yard, always across the street. She was a good cat.

{{gwi:333345}}

And then there is my cat, Daomai (that's Chinese for 'bad luck'). She doesn't really like nature a whole lot after an altercation with some very aggressive hummingbirds in the condo patio a few years ago. She rarely leaves the sidewalk or the driveway, but I do find her out in the yard some mornings. Usually she watches me from the window. She'd just as soon kill you as look at you.

{{gwi:333346}}

Yes, very ying/yang.

I love this thread & love these pictures! PV - My balcony is only one story up. If I don't put pots in the corner, they might try to get through the railing around the corner to the roof. With the rest of the balcony, though, there really isn't anywhere for them to go, there's no ledge. They'll jump up on the railing (it's pretty wide) occasionally or poke their heads through the railing but mostly they follow me around or if I'm just relaxing then they find a nice sunbeam and relax too. I only let them out when I'm gonna be out there for a little while and I prop the screen door open, so they can run back in if they want to. When I come back inside, they pretty much follow me back in too. When I first moved in, I was a little nervous about it, but last summer we spent a lot of time out there without any trouble and they love it. I hope to see more garden helper pics!

Everyone's kitties are so cute! Thanks for getting this thread started PV. Look forward to seeing more pics.

-StLGirl

This post makes me sad in a way. This will be the first spring I've had without either of my two very first cats - Sebastian and Cosmo.

I do have one kitty, Daisy. She's not allowed outside much as there are a lot of strays around my neighborhood. I also have two dogs - Maggie and Lucy. The dogs spend a lot of time outside with me, so they definitely keep me company.

Here are some pictures:

Sebastian - {{gwi:333347}}

Cosmo - {{gwi:333348}}

Daisy - {{gwi:333349}}

Maggie - {{gwi:333350}}

Lucy - {{gwi:333351}}

SAMMY!!!

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I have two new garden "helpers" this year.

please say hello to Remy and Cody..........

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They are already trying to help me dig and weed...lol

Lisa

ollierose - sorry to hear about Sebastian and Cosmo. Beautiful animals.
The rest of your four-legged family is so cute.

SAMMY! What a face!

Lisa - those are some cute pups. Oh, I miss having dogs ...

Hey token - have you spotted White Cat yet? Your Daomai looks like a nice kitty - is she really evil?

PV

Thanks PV, I've been missing them a lot lately. My other "kids" really are the best. Then again, aren't everyone's pets? Too bad humans can't be as nurturing, loving and forgiving as they are!

Diana

I have a few helpers. first Bailey and Mexie. They keep guard and keep me company while I work outside.
{{gwi:333354}}
Them there's Oreo. he keeps watch most of the other time and adds lost of hair to the compost.lol
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And of course there's the 2 legged helpers that leave me alone so I can garden. :O)
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and let's not forget my most important helper. Tony, my Dh, He is the labor.HEEHEE
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Pattie

My Raven.
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These two are my 'early spring' garden buddies. They show up for a few weeks every year and swim around on the pool cover for a while, wander through the gardens and eat any nice new sprouts (!) and then they leave.
I will try and get a pic of my 'real' garden buddies and post it later today.
{{gwi:333359}}
gg

Thank you for starting this thread! I've enjoyed meeting the furry and non-furry gardening buddies. I'm absolutely in love with Sammy, and I am not much of a dog person :)

Here are my two indoor seedling eaters, Phoebe the tabby and Shrillbert, my six toed mutant baby:
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Here's my garden companion:
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He's a hound, which means he'd be a runner, so he's always tied to something, but if I'm weeding, he has to be able to see me or he starts whining like a baby. The barn in the background is where someone dropped him off when he was a tiny little thing - I used to carry him around like a pekinese & now he's 80 pounds!!

{{gwi:333362}}

He's still our baby, though & the reason we bought a King size bed... (Hey didn't I just make that bed?)
{{gwi:333363}}

Gail

Jeese, Gail, doesn't that just get ya when people are so cruel to the most innocent of all creatures? What a beautiful dog he is!

Sammy looks like he's carrying around the "stinker gene"! He reminds me of our dog Spot, too cute for her own good! I have got to my DH to take a few pics our critter family!

GG, don't the dogs chase the ducks away? Our Spot has the Canada geese population trained to stay out of the courtyard here.

Hi Nancy Drew,

As Joseph says to his brothers at the end of Genesis "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good". That dog is one of the best things that happened to us (although if you had told me that when he was a puppy & chewing/destroying everything he could get his teeth on, I would have had something to say!!)

They are all very cute, but I must say, that picture of Lucy looks like she's smiling :)

Cheers!
Gail

Nancy,
the pool has to be fenced off with a temporary snow type fence when we have the cover on it, as we are afraid that the dogs would run right over the cover and then end up drowning or needing rescue. When the cover comes off they know to stay away from the pool. They do keep the critters out of the other part of the yard though. I try to make sure that there is nothing (cat squirrel etc.) in the yard when I am letting them out. They are fast, and 'almost' got a cat not long ago..it tried ot go up over the fence and one of them got it by the leg. It did get away and over the fence, but I have never seen it in the yard since.
gg

This is Thor, my lap top cat. He is great to have around after a long day because he loves to sit in your lap and purr up a storm. Very relaxing.

{{gwi:333364}}

This is Odin, Thor's brother and NOT a lap cat. He prefers instead to play with a toy that you toss or drag on a string. He will occasionally fetch a toy that you toss.

{{gwi:333365}}

{{gwi:333366}}

This is Musashi, he makes a dent in the squirrel population and enjoys chasing birds. He is also very good about moles. He doesn't dig in the garden much but does eat up the catnip and nibble here and there. He thinks he is a tiger and likes to sleep by my feet every night.

I wanted to comment on some of the animals but they are all so beautiful and full of personality. I'd include my Dog here but she is a garden destroyer and so can't be labeled a gardening buddy.

Your Musashi is such a beauty! Where does that name come from?

As for the dog - "garden destroyers" are accepted here too! LOL!

PV