I live with a ritualistic plant abusing cat, named Mason. Born outdoors as a feral kitten, his safety and home was brush, bushes and plants.
After I first caught him and we went the step from the large two level cage to getting used to roaming free in a closed bathroom he first exhibited his desire and love for green plants. At first, it was the Boston fern that sat on the ledge of the soaking tub in the bathroom.
It was his nest. It was his hiding space. It was a foe to be viciously attacked and shredded with full kitten force.
It finally succumbed to his nesting and repeated abuse and composted back to dust.
Eventually, when he was allowed free rein and had the ability to roam the house, I discovered that even the silk floral arrangements were not safe from the wrath of the Lord Fairfax, Urban Tiger, known as Mason.
Buds of silk flowers became plucked from their wire and plastic stems and their heads tossed, slid and rolled with great pleasure across the wood floors. Even the plastic and silk leaves were patterned with canine tooth marks where he had shown them who was master and who was the slave.
The occasional fresh floral arrangement, was a gift from the edible arrangement gods, according to Mason.
Alas, there are large plants that I now have in the house. The collection includes a huge ficus type tree; a variation of a palm with an exotic thick leafed fern planted at the base; rubber tree and snake plants that once resided at the office; a lovely pink blooming hibiscus bush and a small tropical green palm style plant.
The Lord Fairfax, Urban Tiger sees jungle!
The MeMe sees plants subjected to the ravages of the orange beast and the accidental splashing of dirt to the floor when said plants are watered.
Lately, one of my projects of protection of the plants both from the ritualistic abuser and from my careless watering's that result in splashes of dirt and water on the floors has been covering the top of the soil with a layer of white pea gravel available from Home Depot.
The cost of my partial sanity is under $4. for .5 cubic feet of the white stones.
As I have been transplanting some of the root bound plants, I have also been adding a layer of the stones to the bottom of the pot to help with filtering out the dirt and the draining of excess water.
Above is a photo of the largest re-potting project that I believe still could use another layer of stone once I replenish my supply. The white stones give a nice finished appearance as well as some added protection.
At least this AM when the Lord Fairfax, Urban Tiger was observed standing in the pot hovering over the exotic plant he ritualistically abuses, I didn't have to fret over scaring him out of the pot and having a trail of dirt left in his wake.
