Gardeners know cats often find shelter and sustenance in flowerbeds, leading to unwanted wandering into them for food, play, and shelter purposes. Some creative hacks will help gardeners deter cats from roaming among their flowers for safety, cleanliness, and aesthetic reasons.
Rough or textured surfaces make walking uncomfortable for cats and can deter them from entering flower bed areas. By placing attractive yet functional barriers such as rose thorns, pyracantha or holly in flowerbeds as barriers against cats’ entry, flowerbed areas become less accessible for these predatory felines.
Catnip
Cats can be an issue in flower gardens, digging up plants and devouring seeds while also defecating on beds, leaving unpleasant odors as well as ammonia-releasing waste products behind. Luckily, there are various solutions for keeping cats away from your garden including plants and natural solutions such as repellent sprays.
Plants known to deter cats include lavender, geraniums, pennyroyal, absinth and rosemary. These perennial herbs possess strong scents that deter cats while remaining attractive to people; typically dying back during the winter but reemerging again come spring.
Deterring cats is easy if you plant prickly ground cover plants like holly, pyracantha and perennial geraniums in order to make walking across it painful for them. Twigs, rosemary or chicken wire could also serve as deterrents – and don’t forget planting some catnip in areas away from flowers if your cats find its taste offensive!
Scent Repellents
Cats possess an acute sense of smell, which has a major impact on their behavior. By implementing scent repellents in your garden, you can deter cats without harming them in any way.
Aromatic plants such as rue, lavender, lemon thyme, Russian sage and pennyroyal can effectively repel cats while remaining safe for the garden. Flowers with thorny foliage like Coleus canina or tropical grevillea also work to dissuade cats.
Alley Cat Allies lists other effective repellents as sprays and granules of cat-repelling oils, herbs, spices such as rosemary, chives, sage, garlic and pepper as effective cat repellents. You could also opt for commercially available anise oil sprays like Ro-pel or Thymol found at pet shops and garden centers as an additional deterrent option.
Sticks, stakes or cutlery placed strategically can create obstacles to keep cats from relaxing in your garden. Some gardeners have had success using motion-activated sprinkler devices which dispense brief bursts of water as soon as they detect cats approaching them.
Chicken Wire
Plastic chicken wire may be your solution when all else fails for keeping cats away from flower gardens and garden beds. Cut strips from it and attach them around seedbeds, window box perches and any other places where cat paw prints have been seen. Although more costly than bird netting, chicken wire offers stronger protection.
Spiky plants or those with sharp thorns are less attractive to cats, and can help deter them from damaging or digging up your flowers. Try planting roses, pyracantha or perennial geraniums with sharp foliage such as theirs to protect the flowers from being scratched up by cats.
Other plants known to deter cats include sea holly, globe thistle and tropical grevillea. You could also try planting carpet runners like CatScat mat with long plastic spikes that make walking uncomfortable for cats without harming them. Motion activated sprinklers work as well; just beware that leaving one on could trigger an unexpected spray of water as soon as you step outside to pull weeds!
Water
Cats often avoid wet soil and dirt, so a layer of finely-grained sand may help deter them. You could also place cat-repelling plants such as rosemary, lemon thyme and rue around your garden to deter cats, or use vinegar + water spray which has an aroma similar to skunk spray to repel cats from flower beds.
Other methods for keeping cats out of your garden include using a water gun that squirts a small amount of water directly at them or motion-activated sprinklers that only shoot bursts of water when they sense movement, saving water waste. Many gardeners swear that spreading ground black pepper or cayenne around works too, although this method can take time and can become messy over time.
If a local cat has been digging up your flower beds repeatedly, try enclosing the area with a roll-up plastic fence or bending wire chicken fencing into a cloche shape to protect specific garden areas such as veg patches or fruit cages. Or perhaps an electric fence with mild shock capabilities that sends shockwaves when touched could deter future visits by felines.