While there is a vast number of flowers and plants that are pet-friendly, it is always a smart idea to ensure the ones you bring home are safe and nontoxic to furry friends. Vibrant greens, cheerful blooms, and loving fur babies all play a role in elevating our quality of life at home. Therefore, it is important that as both pet and plant parents, we take our time in selecting the best botanicals that are safe for dogs and cats. Here at Beneva, the best florist in Sarasota, our favorite quality flowers and brilliant greens include a variety that is non-toxic to our furry friends.
Safe Plants & Flowers for Pets
Spider Plant
Wonderfully unique looking with thin green and yellow leaves that bend and arch from every direction, spider plants are pet-friendly and easy to grow. They make great house plants for their resilience and their air-purifying properties.
Polka Dot Plant
A great houseplant for its colorful leaves, the Polka Dot plant grows well in an area with indirect light but develops the best color when in lower light situations. The leaves have a sprinkling of dots making them very decorous but never toxic – as polka dot plants are safe for pets.
Friendship Plant
Impress your friends with this pet-friendly plant that has colorful, quilt-like decorative leaves. Friendship plants prefer warm temperatures, humidity, and only a few hours a day of sunlight to thrive.
Gerbera Daisies
A bright and cheerful bloom ready to elevate your day, similar to the sunflower, are gerbera daisies. These non-toxic flowers come in a brilliant array of colors, including pink, red, purple, orange, yellow, and white. As common daisies and chrysanthemums prove to be poisonous to cats and dogs, gerbera daisies are a great and safe alternative for pet-friendly homes. While they offer a long vase life, gerbera daisies will have you and your fur babies feeling happy and uplifted for days to come.
Pansies
Aside from being harmless to our furry friends, pansies are most loved for their eclectic “faces” and patterned petals that can last throughout the year. From red to yellow and purple to blue, these sweet and charming flowers thrive in cooler weather but can do just as well inside during the hot summertime. In case your pet wants to get a taste of their minty flavor, be sure to remove the dead leaves and petals and replenish their water to help your pansies continue flourishing.
How to Protect your Pets from Toxic Plants & Flowers
Being both a pet-parent and a plant-parent comes with the responsibility of ensuring everyone can live/coexist in harmony. Creating a stress-free and uplifting environment involves displaying all your botanicals in a location that is up high, such as a tall shelf or hanging pots, or on a screed in porch or patio, so curious companions cannot get to them. However, as accidents do happen, if your pet displays any signs of poisoning, such as vomiting, dehydration, loss of appetite, lethargy, etc., please call your vet or animal hospital immediately. You can also utilize the guide to toxic and non-toxic plants and flowers located on the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center website.
