Nepeta is one of the most carefree long blooming plants there is. I think it's worth a try. I have two cats, and used to have another. None of them took any interest in my nepeta at all, even when I stuck it under their noses. We have ferrel cats in our neighborhood too and I have never seen one around my nepeta. If you do happen to have a cat in the neighborhood that wants to eat it or lay in it, at least it probably won't want to poop there too. Nepeta is easy to propagate. If you carefully pull a stem away from the base, it will already have itty bitty roots attached to it and can grow into a good size plant in one season. Just stick the new starts in a shady place for awhile until they get established. It should be very easy to get nepeta in a plant trade or make your own starts if you purchase a plant. Then if you do happen to have new cats hanging around, you won't have spent much and can rip it all out. I don't think you'll need to. In fact there may be some places in your garden where you can use nepeta as a ground cover instead of loose mulch where I suspect you're finding kitty poo. Cats like to scratch in loose soil, sand, or mulch. They're not likely to poop on top of a plant.

I sent you an email. KC

I once worked at a police department. When I was new, I would hear the dispatchers talking and sometimes would be in there chit chatting as well. They would often remark that someone was 96. "Oh, Mrs. so and so called today, you know, she's 96." --- "Mr. so and so called today about his dog again, he's 96." I finally had to ask, "Why is everyone in this town 96? Was there some kind of boom 96 years ago?" God! I didn't think they'd ever stop laughing. 96 wasn't a reference to age. It was a 10 code. 1096 meant that a person was mentally unstable!! Guess I was the one who was 96 that day LOL. But, in my defense, I hadn't been exposed to any 10 codes prior to that so I just thought they were talking about age. Plus, they didn't say 10 before the 96. Sometimes people are so wrapped up in their own environment they forget that it doesn't make sense to an outsider. Case in point!

Yes - the bike rack/fence post support thingie would be on my side of the fence. Both sides look nice, designed to pretty much look the same on both sides. If it works if I can get down deep enough to sink the metal post it will be the perfect solution -stabilize the post AND give us secure place to lock bikes (bike thieves run rampant around here). If not - I wonder, what if I just expand the concrete slab that the post is sitting in, make it larger/wider? Right now its about 2 feet thick but only about a foot wide! I think if it was wider it wouldn't be so moveable. say about 2 x 2 feet square - or larger? Might frost heave up and down but oh well. The posts on either side of it (8 feet distance) are securely sunk down 42 inches. Re: what to use for metal fence post - thinking either black or galvanized iron pipe - 2 inches - attached to the fence via 90 degree elbow at the top and 1 or 2 T joints. Is a 2 inch pipe for plumbing going to be as strong and rigid as a galavanized fence post made specifically for that purpose? Or are they pretty much equivalent, just one is marketed for plumbing the other for fence posts? Those pipe fittings just screw on correct? No glue or welding required? Klem - the brackets you refer to I think are for wood attaching directly to the metal post. I don't think I can get the metal post right up close the wood one, not without drilling through the concrete and gravel that is directly below the wood post That's why I was thinking of having the metal post be 6 inches from the wood one and then attaching it 2 or 3 places via the pipe fittings/flanges. However if it would make for a significantly more secure and stable fence Im willing to give it a go! Ive invested so much time and effort into getting this fence right - what's a few more days, weeks, months. Maybe this will be done by 2016. THANKS ALL!