My shih tzu Jackmy shih tzu girls, Emily, Abby and camera shy Zoe. At least there are hosta in both pictures. I love seeing all the furry garden friends!

Sherry

Ice Age Trail needs to be divided.Ice Follies Looks like this one is sporting?Invincible Island BreezeIvory CoastIvory Queen

My lazy Siamese KC unfortunately doesn’t get to play in the garden.

I only have (had) one I and I think now is gone. Bought it for the name and really liked the red legs. Hope to replace it if it doesn't come back.

Infatuation bought in 2015

Infatuation 2016

Infatuation 2017

Old Dirt, I looked at your first picture of Infatuation and thought I love it! Need to add it to my list, by the time I looked at your 3rd picture I thought maybe I don't want to add it to my list. Thanks for posting the good and the bad.

I have Invincible..5 of them planted together..but no pic..no pets..I would love to have a Rottweiler (nephew has one) but my husband is not on board..I have to be content with plant babies..so this is me when my plant babies disappear..a little bit grouchy and not as happy..

I forgot Nutty..

a couple of doodles

and a blooming Island Breeze

Just one baby, so I'm posting two pictures. One early in the year before the hail, one later.

Icy Halo in the middle of this new space I "found". (who needs grass?)

Icy Halo later, it will be a big one some day:)

Inniswood — an old favorite and for a reason.

Inspire Greatness

Iron Gate Delight — nice fragrance on this one.

Iris Frazier — beautiful all season long, worth finding one for your garden.

Impressive!..Intoxicating!..Inspirational!..I Imagine these hostas make an Impact in your gardens..lol

I love seeing everyone's fur kids! I think they make every day better just by being there.
peren.all/Laurie, I'm happy you found another dog. Luke is a beauty and looks high energy.

Here's my Molly undoubtedly plotting some mischief.

Ice Follies in August. In soaker hose area I want to rework this coming season. I do like the margins on this one.

Independence in spring

Irish Luck, getting bigger

Island Breeze has red petioles

A new Ivory Queen

Laurie what is the size of Indigo? It's listed as sm so is it about the size of a Blue Cadet or a bit bigger? It's a very pretty blue and could go on my list.

Donna, your Wills looks so pretty and comfy. That's a new Irish Luck?!? Oh my, so big already.

zkathy, I really like your Iris Frazier. I don't think I've heard of that one before. Yours has a nice form. So it does well in sun?

nicholsworth, at least you have Nutty. :-)

I love Nutty..we opened both ends of a box (pushed flaps in) to make a covered spot for Nutty and the birds..put it on a table.."windows" on each end..grabbed 2 rocks (not as big as I'd hoped but convenient) to hold it down..well - 2 squirrels jumped from opposite ends and the box, rocks, nuts and squirrels flew off..so I went out into the snow..found a bigger rock and put the box back on the table with more weight..should be stable now..squirrels ate the fallen peanuts..and we had a beautiful cardinal and some tufted titmice..

No good "I" photos but am loving all the pets, here are some of mine.

Sir Humphrey Appleby aka Humpy, he found me in 2015 and decided to stay.

Footie, she will be 14 this year, photo shows her default position, life is tough for my cats lol.

Incredible I hostas today. I don't have any I hostas in my collection, but hopefully that will change, of course I added a few more to my list. Wonderful pictures of all your loved pets.

Here is Yoru, Yoyo for short. He likes to help me garden.

sandyslopes, Iris Frazier is in enough sun to make that little group of Stella d’Oros bloom some, not profusely.

Let’s get a thread about irrigating sandy soils started.

Thanks sandyslopes, Luke is very high energy being half Border Collie. He is also very calm and cuddly too though, a perfect mix. The SPCA would not even consider an adoption from someone who had not previously had experience with the breed.

Molly is adorable. I am really enjoying seeing every ones furry friends.

Indigo is 25x12 so smaller than Blue Cadet. BC is listed as 38x15. I love it for the color, form and flowers.

I have a couple more i's to add:

'Ice Age Trail' with a very nice medio-variegated division (un-named) and something I was unable to locate this past year, and 'Island Breeze', a new addition last year.

And one more of Maggi, the Devil Dog @ Halloween.....

Pieter

Nice hostas and LOL, Pieter.

Pieter..Maggi looks positively cuddly..

Pieter, Maggi makes a perfect little devil :-) I'd love to have a dog when I'm retired, thinking of a Labrador...

Interesting division of Ice Age Trail. My IAT has meanwhile changed totally to a lookalike of yours and Jan van den Top told me that it reverted to Papa, a stable sport of IAT. It looks nice and I like it but now I need a new one :-)

Denis, I love your Humpy, must be a very wise guy if he decided to stay with you :-)

I have cats for more than 30 years now and can not immagine how boring a life without them would be. Always got them as a little handful, six weeks old and went through their various stages as babies, wild teens, lazy adults and wise old cats.

zkathy, I think you have a much bigger space to irrigate than I do. I use sprinklers and soaker hoses. I notice you use... are they called driplines? That looks efficient, but I wonder if you have hard water like I do. I imagine they would get clogged up over here, but I haven't tried them.

Laurie, the border collie in Luke shows up. I'm a big fan of the herding breed. Such wonderful dogs! I would like to find a Sheltie to love, but the rescue here insists on a fenced yard, which I don't have. ....I'm hoping this spring I can find the right dog. Molly will have to approve, of course.

Karin, cats are the best! I've always had a cat. You're lucky you can have yours outside with you.

Great idea Paula.

Here is my buddy, He's a great therapy dog. We visit special needs classes and he loves to interact with the kids.

He also loves our morning coffee runs!

Inspire Greatness....a percentage of every sale is donated to Special Olympics.......a beautiful hosta

Invincible

Irish Luck...IMO another special one

Island Breeze

Ivory Coast

That's it for the I's.

Thanks for looking!

Had my first cat "Tiddles" at 2 years old and all her successors have carried the same name!

Tiddles 1 nearly 18 and very much retired.

Tiddles 2. In her prime and rodent catcher supreme.

Lots of I's. Only one to show.

Ivory Coast

Dave

Love these photos of both plants and pets. They make me a bit wistful, though. Lost my garden buddy this past summer... she was almost 15... a Labrador (Karin- I highly recommend them). Here’s one of the last photos of Susie:

But we still have our cat, Rusty. Like yours Bill, he’s not able to play outside... but he is very playful indoors, even as he approaches 15! I call him my dream cat- so sweet, funny and so well behaved. Here he is after my granddaughter covered him up with her “blankie”... he is very patient, and puts up with anything she dishes out:

As for hostas... I have Irish Luck (no picture tho) and Ivory Coast, which had to be moved, then was potted, then fell apart into 3 plants when replanted. This is it as I was planting last summer. I’m anxious to see if it will return in spring.

Invincible

Sam waiting to go to the Dog park. He is Pyrenees mixed Bernese.

He is part of the welcoming committee.

Water control

New puppy at the park and the Human has treats!

My new addition is Zoe,Bernese Mountain. She is now 8 weeks old.

My therapy!!!! I also have 2 cats.......Abby(grey tabby) and Tiger(orange tabby).

Love the Irish Luck and Ivory coast.. I will keep my eyes open for those 2 when purchasing time comes around. Thank you for posting such lovely pics of the "I"s and furry friends.

Laurie, we had Fred, a half border collie when our kids were small. His vet told me the breed's appearance holds true for a generation or two. He was with us for 16+ years. They are toooo smart.

Sherry

I hear you on that Sherry! The full Border Collie I had was scary smart and such a wonderful companion. I still miss him and his two offspring that were half Border Collie.

windymess so sad that you lost Susie. It is hard being without our garden buddies.

the Peanut Hut..pics were taken thru the slats of the blinds..the birds go in the box too..

Doves..so sweet..my husband should build a cedar version of the Peanut Hut..

Love all those fur baby posts. Here are my two as kittens

And now that they are older.And another one of Jackie in the hosta garden with Queen Josephine. They both love to sneak under Sum & Substance for a nap (upper left corner)

Now, back to business.

Ice Age Trail

And Karin, I love your revision of IAT to Papa - lovely!

All of you are making me want a cat or dog! Your pets are so cute! Anyone with a bird?

Meet Coby, our budgie:

She is very sweet and loving, and she loves to be with us, particularly me. My son says we don't need a watch dog because when I return from being out, she can hear me entering at the front door and she starts to call for me. She also watches me tending the hostas in the backyard from the kitchen window.

Here she is on our table after supper.

But like all pets, you have to watch out for them. Can you find her?

Yup. That's her in our kitchen drawer.

Now back to hostas. I was glad to hear the great review from Peren.all in regards to Indigo. Just got it last year.

And Island Breeze:

has lovely petioles

And flower bud

newhostalady..funny!!..I see her "hiding"..has she been in other places that she shouldn't be?..

nhl- darling bird!

Nicholsworth55, my bird has been in a lot of other places that she shouldn't be! One day I forgot she was on my shoulder and went into the guest bathroom. Well, she saw this gorgeous bird reflected in the large mirror, and now and then, she tries to fly in there to visit that bird in there! She also loves the cell phone. Hard to get a picture because she wants to get to the phone. (She can see her reflection in it.) Same with the camera. As soon as she hears the sound of it turning on, games over!

When my son was in his teens he brought home a tame rat one day...you could immagine that I was not pleased at all...but after a few hours this little creature has won my heart with an unbelievable intelligence and cuteness. Egon was his name and he and my cat got along very well. Only bad thing was that he start to gnaw at everything when outside his cage :-( I sometimes remember Egon sitting on the sink and taking breakfast...holding a grape in his hands and munching with obvious pleasure. This puts a smile on my face even after this long time.

I could not live without a pet...

This little cutie was left back when some stupid neighbours moved and it took me two month to gain her trust. Unfortunately she was hit by a car soon after she got accustomed to come in :-( Her brother is still around but he is so wild that I lost all hope with him. Putting out some food is all I can do. Found out that hedgehogs and magpies also like that food...

newhostalady you will be delighted by Indigo!

Years ago we had finches but they are nothing like a budgie in the intelligence department.

I had pet geese for 22 years. I had them from shortly after they hatched so they imprinted on me as their mother. They would come for walks with me and were trained to leave the garden alone ( I did fence the veggie garden) The female would sleep in the dog house with the dog we had at the time.

I had 6 baby skunks, 8 baby rabbits and a baby chipmunk over time because the moms had been killed on the road. They all had to be fed with an eye dropper. They all survived and were released back into the wild when ready.

I miss my cats and my geese.

I can understand your not being pleased with a rat your son had brought home Karin. I would have been the same! I am glad Egon had received a good life when in your care.

You did a very good deed when you helped the cat left behind by some neighbors. Sorry to hear that this cat was lost prematurely. Pets are so lovable!

Pet geese peren.all! Wonderful! And you were their mother. Oh my! That sounds like a wonderful experience!

Thank you peren.all for looking after the skunks, rabbit and chipmunk and being their surrogate mom. You did a wonderful deed! You're awesome!

As for our budgie, she loves it when I have her next to my face and talk to her. I was laying on the kitchen floor recently checking the underside of my kitchen table. My budgie Coby flew down to me and started walking all over my face bewildered about why I was down there (ouch---those little nails!) ! It just made me laugh and laugh. Pets are so endearing!

newhostalady..what a busy little bird!..she is so pretty..aren't you glad that she's so colorful?..makes it easier to find her..that's hysterical that she likes the cell phone..

Karin..I'm not sure that I could be so nice to a rat!..you obviously have a big heart for all creatures..

peren.all..it must be rewarding to see animals that you've saved go back into the wild and live a normal life..

nhl, I like seeing your budgie, Coby. She's so pretty, and I know they're very smart and sociable. I don't have inside birds so I like feeding and watching the outside ones.

Karin, my brother had mice for pets and one was so smart she would tour the house and then went back to her cage. Our cat didn't bother her. Sorry to hear that kitty was hit by a car. You were trying to help her. I'm also feeding a stray that I think belonged to a neighbor that moved and left her cat behind. Who does that? I think someone threw rocks at her to get her to leave the house she thought was hers. It took her 13 months to allow me to pet her, and she really enjoys it, although she's still easily spooked. She's come inside several times but panics if I close the door, so I'm taking it slow and tell her to stay safe when she's outside.

peren.all/ Laurie, how fun to have geese follow you around. I've come across baby skunks and they're really cute and a bit kitten like in their play. All the animals you've helped is just more proof of how kind hearted you are.

Yes nicholsworth it is. At least they had a chance and that is all anyone can say that has ever rescued orphaned critters. I can only hope they lived a long and wonderful life.

Thank you sandyslopes, clearly you (and Karin) have that nurturing gene too. I can't even imagine someone leaving a pet behind. That cat is lucky to have you feeding and looking out for it. Hope s(he) keeps progressing.

Those geese were great pals and the best "watch dogs" I ever had! Baby skunks really do act like kittens and have the sweetest temperament.

I loved all the pictures hostas and pets. Pieter's Devil Dog made me laugh. It's been a tough year petwise around here. We did have an unexpected feathered visitor in Nov. These 2 picture are taken outside my kitchen window. The branch is only a couple feet away. He fellow stayed for quite a while. I keep hoping he'll come back.

Now some hostas.

newhostalady OMG there was a weird time glitch or something. Your post with Coby "pinning you down" was not there when I responded to sandyslopes & nicholsworth. Apologies and a big thank you for the kind words.

Pets truly are endearing! So funny, pets reactions when something unexpected is done. Coby was really enjoying having you on the floor. What an entertaining little bird she is. Just wait til she goes beyond looking at herself on your cell phone and makes a call!

Sorry you had a bad year pet wise mctavish. I hope the owl stays. Great pic of it.

newhostalady..just like peren.all I didn't see the comment with the pic of Coby on your face until now..so cute how she wants to be close to you..

mctavish9..wonderful owl pics..I've seen them in my backyard too..hard to see but my GW pic is an owl that was in my backyard..

I love owls!... just sayin’.

It is so wonderful to have that owl so close to your home that you can even photograph it, Mctavish! That's a sight to behold!

Last night (around 10 p.m.) and the night before, I heard something hit the patio window. I have heard that before on our kitchen window. Coby had been sitting on her perch by the window and patio door. We think it must be an owl attemping to catch her! Not sure what else it can be.

Thanks peren.all. You have nurtured so many different animals---that is a gift and those animals were blessed to have had you in their life.

Nicholsworth55, thanks for your comment. Coby loves company, especially mine. She likes to sit on my shoulder, see what I'm eating for dinner, "dance" with me, "exercise" with me when I am on my stationery bike (she sits on the display stand looking at her reflection while I do all the work!) etc.

newhostalady, you make me want a budgie, but I can't trust my cat. Your little Coby sounds like such a good buddy to have around and so cute that she had to check you out on the floor. Good thing she was safe inside if that was an owl. I was outside once when an owl swooped down right over me, coming very close to my head. I never heard it until it was right on top of me. Luckily, I was not the prey it was going for because I would have been toast, lol.

newhostalady..missed a comment again grrr..Coby has so much personality!..she could be a therapy bird..or be a model..do commercials..work at an amusement park or zoo..she's adorable..

Owls are really amazing. I've been with my grandson at a kind op park a few miles from here. They have various kinds of animals in a kind of a big woodland zoo. They have also lots of big birds (nothing for my animal loving heart to see them sitting on posts and in volieres) but they let them fly twice a day. But the snow owl moved me...such a gorgeous creature and as sandyslopes described it above I never heard it coming when it flew in from behind...and it was big!