Lily of the valley

I've heard there dangerous if you have children and pets? Is this the case. Thanks.
Was thinking of buying one locally,

 

Lots of plants are poisonous (or have vicious thorns etc.). One approach is to educate the kids rather than avoid them ... the kids are likely to be in someone else's garden and encounter such plants - and maybe the owners are not aware. My Mum used to make me wash my hands when we picked certain flowers - like Yellow Aconites in Spring - when we came in, which was a handy way of making me aware that they needed to be treated with some care (but not paranoia, so to speak)

Most things in the garden which are poisonous are going to cause an upset stomach rather than anything fatal, but youngsters are inclined to put seeds in their mouth and so on ... so there is risk.

Apple Pips contain cyanide, and they will kill you if you eat enough of them ... but getting your worst enemy to eat the whole core of an apple, every day, isn't going to get rid of them I'm afraid

P.S. Sorry, missed the bit about pets. That's a bit more tricky, although I don't know if they are likely to be tempted to eat Lily of the Valley

 

My (admittedly rather limited) understanding is that generally, the order of priority we should be concerned with when it comes to toxic plants is this:

1) The most vulnerable group are toddlers/small children.

2) Dogs.

3) Cats.

Personally, I think that when one has insufficient understanding of a situation (which is probably true for the vast majority of people in this case, even tremendously keen gardeners) one should simply err on the side of caution. I grew Lily Of The Valley for several years and never had a problem with my cats, but who knows? I may have just been lucky!

Nick

 

Thanks, think May give it a go, already got lillies and orlandera. Thanks for replys. The lily of the valley was thinking for the North facing side of garden(shaded area

 

The dangerous garden malarkey comes up every year on every plant forum around the world. Cats instinctively keep away from lily flowers, dogs will throw up by chewing on a host of different leaves, whilst young humans will find out quite quickly that putting plants in your mouth will leave a nasty taste or burning for quite a while.....probably why kids won't eat leafy salad and brassicas!
To ingest the most poisonous of plants even by accident takes a special kind of stoooopid, even by kids standards. There's more chance of being impaled on a pyracantha or blinded by impatiens seed release. An acid type burn from euphorbia sap is one to be avoided. I keep the kids away by growing puya, chamaerops, yucca, opuntia and a host of other spikeys. If you play in my garden, you will pay with blood

 

We have 2 cats and 2 dogs and none of them have ever become ill after eating plants in the garden.

G.

 

I think the only way to get a realistic idea of how often it happens with pets is to have a chat with a vet about it.

Nick