Houseplants & pets
Pet-friendly houseplants: safe picks for cats and dogs
Cats chew. Dogs sample. Puppies eat gravel, so a peperomia doesn't stand a chance. The good news: you don't have to choose between a green house and a safe one — you just have to pick the right plants. Everything below is rated non-toxic to both cats and dogs by the ASPCA.
Spider Plant
Nearly unkillable · makes free babies · cat-approved chew (harmless)
Prayer Plant
Painted leaves that fold up at night · loves low light · safe for both
African Violet
Blooms indoors all year · fuzzy leaves · completely pet-safe
Parlor Palm
Instant jungle vibes · tolerates low light · palms cats can nap under
The safe list
Easy keepers: spider plant, parlor palm, ponytail palm, peperomia (dozens of leaf shapes, all safe), and haworthia — the pet-safe succulent that looks like a tiny aloe without aloe's toxicity. For color and character: African violets, moth orchids, Christmas cactus, bromeliads, polka dot plant, and purple passion plant with its fuzzy iridescent leaves — those last two we grow right here. For texture: Boston fern, prayer plants and calatheas, hoya (the waxy trailing one), air plants, and the friendship plant. A nibble of any of these means a bored pet, not a vet visit.
The ones that surprise people
Most of the internet's favorite houseplants are on the wrong list: pothos, philodendron, monstera, peace lily, snake plant, ZZ plant, dieffenbachia, aloe, jade, English ivy, fiddle leaf fig — and yes, dracaena (including the spikes from summer planters) and asparagus fern, both of which we grow for outdoor containers. Beautiful outside, not for the cat shelf inside. Most of these cause drooling, mouth pain, or an upset stomach rather than a true emergency — unpleasant, not usually tragic. Tradescantias like Nanouk sit in between: not poisonous, but the sap can irritate mouths and skin.
Living with both
A few honest rules from plant people with pets: "hanging basket" is not a cat-proofing strategy — cats are liquid and gravity is a suggestion. Height works better for dogs than cats. If your cat treats every plant as salad, grow them a pot of cat grass as the designated victim. And know the number before you need it: ASPCA Animal Poison Control, (888) 426-4435 — save it in your phone next to your vet.