No, not another George – I’m so happy that the American election is happening far away from here. Oh – I digress, and I haven’t even started yet.
Anyway – in my grandmother’s garden there was what we used to call a cat tree or cat bush. It wasn’t a tree – it may not even have been a bush – its long branches climbed like vine and covered the entire south wall of Grans outbuilding. It was probably what kept said outbuilding from falling apart, come to think of it… It looked like this:
The leaves start out green, then go half white, before turning to pink later in the season. I remember how fascinated I was by it as a child – I was so sure that someone painted it just to trick me… I’ve been looking for it in nurseries all over, but no luck. It would look wonderful here, either climbing on one of our juniper trees, or I could build a gazebo-type structure for it to climb on, creating shade in the summer.
Its latin name is Actinidia Kolomikta, and it’s actually related to the kiwi! A hardy tropical plant – and I’ll just have to keep searching.
Why it’s called cat tree or cat bush? Supposedly, cats love them so much that they can ruin them by scratching their bark. This is probably due to chemical substances contained in the plant that are attractive to cats.
You have to admit – it’s a beauty!
Stumble it!
