Using Poisonous Plants and Shrubs

I am looking for a couple shrubs for a shady site in my back yard. My narrowed down list contains Aesculus parviflora (Bottlebrush buckeye). While searching for more information I hit the Poisonous Plants of North Carolina site that listed this plant with the warning "HIGHLY TOXIC, MAY BE FATAL IF EATEN!"

Ohhh! As a father of three young children and the owner of a dog and cat, it does not seem like a good idea to add a potentially fatal plant to my yard (though I could do without the cat...but that is another topic). As I scanned through the list, I noticed the same warning on other plants that I already have in my landscape such as Prunus laurocerasus (Cherry laurel) and Rhododendron.

So what is a gardener to do? Should I completely rule out poisonous plants? Should I replace the poisonous plants that I already have? Should I just tell my kids not to eat the berries from the plants and call that good? (I cannot image the kids eating the leaves, but I guess the animals might).

- Brent

Poisonous Plants of North Carolina: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm

Brent, no one loves animals more than my husband and myself. (WE even love our cat !) I try to avoid poison plants inside but outside I dont think it is a great worry. I do plant my brugmansia (angel trumpets) on the other side of the house from the barn just in case the goats get out and decide to take a stroll. I doubt you will have a problem with most things. I'm sure it has happened but I've never personally heard of it and usually I think the person/animal would have to ingest a fair amount to do any harm.
charlotte

If we were to not grow any poisonous plants, we'd have very few plants we could use, even the vegetable patch would be thin!

There is a school of thought that poisonous plants are a great teaching aid to children, yes you do have to be more careful but providing they are past the putting everything in mouth stage, most children are quite sensible about it. Most animals are pretty good about what they shouldn't eat too. We caught Sweeny (cat) chewing on some Delphinium leaves one day but perhaps she felt a bit ill as she never touched them again.

Tomato plants are poisonous, particularly the blossoms. Most bulbs that do not smell like onions are poisonous. The list goes on and on. Oleander is poisonous but the plant is so bitter that I cannot believe anyone would more than taste it.

Things like castor bean that are very deadly are ones to worry about. The young shoots of wild tobacco taste like aspargus but I am told are poisonous.

Thanks for the responses. That is sort of what I expected, but I just wanted to make sure that I was not crazy for using these plants. The seedpods on Aesculus parviflora do not look like anything that a kid would be attracted to anyway.

- Brent

I was given two house plants that are on the toxic list, and being a cat owner, I put them out on the porch. I worried that the strays that I feed may eat them, but I was told that cats that grow up in the wild are pretty smart about knowing what they can and cannot eat. Sure enough...I've never had any trouble with them eating my porch plants.

I keep the number for Poison Control on the back of my phone, and being that i have two young boys, I have used it often. Many times a toxic plant will only cause mild mouth irritation or tummy upset that can be handled with a glass of water or milk. If you suspect an ingestion call 1-800-222-1222. for kids anyway, LOL for pets try your local veterinarian

bump... this is good info...

This message was edited Jun 18, 2005 12:45 AM