Our garden team receives many questions about what grows well in a cat friendly garden. We receive fewer questions about what has already been eaten. This guide corrects that imbalance.
1. Parsley
Parsley is a robust herb with a clean flavour. Your cat has eaten the tips, thought about them, and returned them to the lawn. This is a common sequence. Do not take it personally. The parsley certainly did.
2. Mint
Mint spreads aggressively and cannot be stopped. Cats find this relatable. They will sit in the mint bed, crush it flat, and emerge smelling of toothpaste and judgment. Mint is therefore the only plant in your garden that is genuinely improved by a cat.
3. Basil
Basil sulks in cold weather and dies at the first hint of disapproval. The cat’s approach is to lie on it. The basil, which was already in a bad mood, gives up entirely. Gardeners describe this as a small tragedy. The cat describes it as a bed.
4. Rosemary
Rosemary is tough and fragrant, and you may assume it is safe. It is not. The cat has examined it, rubbed against it, and left a patch of fur in its branches that resembles a small flag of surrender. Rosemary survives, as it always does, with dignity.
5. Thyme
Thyme is low growing, which makes it an ideal surface for a loaf shaped cat. A well established thyme patch can host up to two cats, or one cat and a sulking larger cat who arrived second. Neither cat is aware of the thyme.
What this means for you
If you would like to keep any of these herbs, you have the following options:
- Grow them indoors, where the cat will find them within the hour
- Grow them in a raised bed, which the cat will treat as a stage
- Grow them in a tall hanging basket, which the cat will treat as a challenge
- Buy them from the Apothecary already dried, so that the cat can be disappointed in advance
Our Windowsill Herb Garden Kit includes all five herbs, a small fence, and a note from Hyssop reading: ‘Good luck. We believe in you. We do not believe in the fence.’
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