Story Title: Cat Friendly Gardens
Episode 2: WA's Great Gardens
Date: 10 October 2010
Presenter: Neville Passmore

For many of us a garden is a place of enjoyment and relaxation. It can be therapeutic and a source of healthy living. Neville shows us how to provide a similar benefits to our pets.

Neville's Tips and Facts

• Pot grass is very popular amongst cat, they love to eat the leaves and in doing so it helps them eliminate fur balls.
• Fur balls are a problem for all cats but in particular fluffy cats and indoor cats as they can be particularly susceptible.
• Pot grass is an easy care plant that appreciates regular feeding and can be grown in a pot in full sunshade or even indoor, wherever your cat spends its time. Consuming the leaves also assists your cat if its missing minerals and vitamins in its diet.
• It's worth mentioning that dogs love this grass too and its also good for them.
• Cat Mint contains Nepetalactone which is an organic compound first isolated from the plant catnip, Nepeta cataria which acts as a cat attractant, giving your cat a pleasant mind altering experience. Your cat will roll in the mint and spend hours with a smile on its face. It's a pretty plant for the garden too with soft misty blue flowers in spring. It makes an excellent full sun groundcover for a hot spot and once established it can get by on our average rainfall alone.
• The white flowering form of Cat Mint has the same effect on a cat but gives you some options when it comes to the landscape. It grows to about 30 cm across and can handle coastal limey soils well.
• In a similar vein Cat Nip puts a huge smile on the dial of your cat. This can also be used by humans to make a pleasant mint flavoured tea that is said to relieve stomach upsets, colic and flatulence.
• It can be grown in the vegetable patch, as it needs more food and water that the Cat Mint. Cut back after the white summer flowers come to their end.

Contact

Swan Valley Nursery
143 Wilson Road
MIDDLE SWAN WA, 6056
P: 08 92748608
www.swanvalleynursery.com.au