Pet-Friendly Gardening and Plant Ideas for Your Backyard

Be careful with azaleas if you’re a pet owner; they’re among the toxic plants for pets. Source: stock.xchng.

Plant ideas for your landscaping should include some pet-friendly research. There are dozens of plants in the Kansas City area that can poison your dog or cat, and an ounce of knowledge is worth a ton of caution for pet owners.

Here are a few of our recommendations to keep your plant ideas safe for your animals:

• Plants with spines or thorns can cause eye injuries to pets; plant them away from the perimeter where your animals roam.
• Immediately dispose of wild mushrooms; they create afla-toxins that can be fatal to dogs.
• Learn which plants are problematic to your cat or dog. HGTV has an excellent list of the plants to avoid that are both extremely/moderately toxic. Some dangerous examples will surprise you, such as the azalea, rhododendron, elephant ear, foxglove, yew, delphinium, castor bean seeds, oleander, and mistletoe.
• Beware of cocoa bean mulch. Its chocolate fragrance is lovely, but cocoa bean hulls contain caffeine and theobromine, both of which are poisonous to dogs.
• For dog-friendly gardens, plant densely and preferably on raised beds or mounds.
• If you’re not sure what your dog may be allergic to or what may be toxic to your pet, contact your local veterinarian. Different breeds and types of animals are sometime susceptible to problems with different plants.

Rosehill Gardens has been landscaping Kansas City for almost 100 years; we’re also good at dogscaping. Contact us for pet-friendly plants or call 816-941-4777 with your questions.