Herbalist Cat's Secret Garden Universe

Aethel Cataria

Old magic, grown slow, under a patient moon.

A bespectacled, ginger-furred cat alchemist named Baba tends a garden that has kept its own time for three hundred years — by the moon, not the clock. He is waiting for you, the way old things wait: unhurried, and in no rush to tell you everything at once. This is a dark, cosy fantasy about staying somewhere long enough to become part of it.

Explore the World See the Works

The Garden's Herbarium

Twelve Months, Twelve Herbs

Pressed flat between the pages of Baba's diary

I · JANUARY

Rosemary

evergreen through the frost

II · FEBRUARY

Lavender

for sleep and peace

III · MARCH

Mugwort

the first green of the thaw

IV · APRIL

Water Lily

moonlight lands on water

V · MAY

Rose

love, and its healing

VI · JUNE

Chamomile

a quiet afternoon

VII · JULY

Thyme

courage, close to the ground

VIII · AUGUST

Basil

the height of the garden

IX · SEPTEMBER

Comfrey

mending, slowly

X · OCTOBER

Lemon Balm

its scent clears as the air cools

XI · NOVEMBER

Sage

wisdom, and old protection

XII · DECEMBER

Holly

keeper of the longest night

← swipe to see all twelve months →

From the Garden

What You Can Find Here Today

Stories that grew in this garden — now living in a game, and soon, on paper

Browser Game

Herbalist Cat's Secret Garden

Tend Baba's garden yourself, right in your browser

Learn more →

Calendar 2027

Moon Phase Calendar

Twelve months, twelve gardens, tracked by moonlight

Learn more →

Diary 2027

Star Herbarium Diary

A garden diary that keeps records like a pressed herbarium

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Sticker Set

Garden Journaling Sticker Set

Characters, moon phases, and cosy moments — three diary sticker sheets

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Novel

Baba's Story

Past the garden gate — the three hundred years he doesn't talk about

Coming soon →

The Author

The One Keeping the Record

A world that began as illustrations is now, slowly, becoming words as well

Klara Hatfield

I write under the name Klara Hatfield. This is where I keep an account of the garden, and of the ones who live in it.

The whole world began as a handful of illustrations, before it grew too large for pictures alone to hold. The Herbalist Cat's Secret Garden is the first book to grow out of it.

Before anything else, I try to get the small things right — three young paws mishandling a mortar and pestle, the particular hush of mist over a lagoon at dawn, the quiet, patient tick of a heart kept warm in a drawer. The story always comes after.

This book doesn't end the garden's story. Somewhere beneath the western woods, a few more are still waiting their turn.