I love plants. I think that they’re the most fabulous things for cleaning up your indoor air and making a lovely environment in your living room, kitchen, bathroom, or other space. However, I also have a smallish child, and other smallish children visit my home on a regular basis. While I don’t think that they’re prone to eating random plant leaves any more, it’s always good to know what I have in my home so that I can make sure that no one ingests something that would make them sick.
What house plants should you avoid when you have a small child?
Indoor Plants
Some plants are toxic to a small degree but will not generally cause serious illness or death. Others are very dangerous. The plants below are those that are highly poisonous.
Caladium
Calla Lily
Cyclamen
Dumb cane (dieffenbachia)
Mistletoe
Sago palm
Outdoor Plants
In the garden, foxglove is probably the most lovely and most dangerous of the plant that you may grow. It’s also known as digitalis, and has a strong effect on the heart. Other backyard plants to be wary of include:
Azalea
Boxwood
Delphinium
False hellebore
Hyacinth
Lily of the valley
Rhododendron
Tansy
Wisteria
Food Plants
While we plant many lovely goodies in our gardens, you need to avoid eating some parts of certain edible plants. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous, even though the stalks are edible. The leaves of plants in the nightshade family are also poisonous. These include backyard favorites like potatoes and tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.
Trees
Some trees have delicious-looking berries that are actually poisonous. These include the yew tree. The female yew creates berries that look like little fall huckleberries. The holly tree is poky and its female trees also create poisonous berries.
Other Concerns With Indoor Plants
If you have plants with long, ropy cords, watch that children do not place the cords around their neck. Even more of a concern with these plants is where they’re balanced. Place plants with long stems in a place where toddlers can’t reach them, so they don’t pull on the stems and bring the entire plant tumbling down. While little cacti are quite cute and easy to tuck into a corner, large cacti are best avoided until your child is sensible enough to stay away from plants with large spines. Also, watch plants that are in temporary storage. Seeds and bulbs need to be stored away from small children. Seeds are a choking hazard, while some bulbs are poisonous.