chewing on plants

so, this is day one of having my cats outside. i only have one here so far, and he seems to be doing ok, he just seems really sad he can't come in and wants me out in the backyard with him at all times. i'm hoping when my other cat is here he'll do better and they can distract either. but a problem i already see possibly starting is him chewing on the flowers/plants in the backyard. the person i'm staying with is really obsessive about their plants and flowers and i don't want him to break off any of the flowers or start digging stuff up (i don't think he'd start digging anyway though). he also tries to rub against (head-butting) them a lot and i'm afraid that will break them. is there anyway to make him leave the plants alone. i was thinking maybe putting the cat condo out there with catnip to distract him from them, but does anyone know any way to just modify the behavior

Hon, you are really in a tough situation I just read your other thread for the first time. One other suggestion that I didn't see in the other thread is, have you contacted some of the animal shelters around your area to see about finding foster families to care for your cats until you get your own place?
I think it is going to be extremely hard keeping your cats out of the plants and bushes. It really isn't fair to them to be sent outside where they seem terrified and then they can't even hide and play in the bushes. It sounds like the people you are with expect them to go outside and just sit in one place and that just isn't going to happen.

i know. i've already checked out animal shelters too, they won't board them or put them in foster homes unless they're going to be put up for adoption. anyway there are a lot of bushes in the backyard and it's fine if they hide/play in those or whatever. but there are potted flowers and some other plants (in pots obviously) and i see no reason for them to need to chew on them. they're not big enough for them to hide in so i figure there must be a way to get them to stop.

Another thing you need to check on is what kind of plants are there in the yard. There are many shrubs and flowers that are toxic to cats.