Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Newbie question: Poison Brugs?, 1 by

wrote:
Sev, there is not many flowering garden plants that are not poisonous. I bought my first Brugmansia when I was seventeen. I will soon be 45 and I am still here. In my own experience kids are not a problem. We have always had kids in the garden, own and others, but in their world it was fun to watch the impressing flowers, and they were also usefull to run about or hide behind, when playing catch or playing hide. Of course I would recommend that small kids, which havent yet been taught what to, and not to bite in, should be watched when they are around the plants, but older kids that has learned all this is never a problem. Besides the plants tastes grimm and bitter and would be spit out immediately, so no harm is done.

We have both cats and dogs here. Two of each. As kids they are so absorbed with thir own purposes that it never occurs to them to bite in the plants. It is probably more the other way around. Our female dog sometimes dig deep holes in the pots in the quest for new mice, where as the male lifts his leg against anything higher than 1 ft. This includes Brugmansia stems. I taught mine not to do it so often, because of the sweet acidic smell.

Cats presents a problem of another order. Mine love to play catch and to have friendly fights in the top of the bigger trees. It takes them less than a second to climb to the top, but they leave deep cutmarks in the bark with the claws. Also, during the winter we have the pots in closed plastic bags. The cats have access to your wintergarden, but if it weren't for the bags they would use the potting soil as a toilet every other day.

All in all, we have only good experiences with kids and pets around Brugmansia.
Tonny