Garden flowers can be a nice addition to your yard. They are attractive and are quite eye catching as well. However, it is important to know which flowers can be dangerous to your dog and which ones are safe. There are several plants and flowers that can affect your dog’s health, but there are also many plants and flowers that will not affect your dog at all. Knowing the difference beforehand can save you from a lot of unpleasant surprises.
One plant that is poisonous to dogs is the blackberry. Blackberries can cause your dog to become extremely ill if ingested, which is why they should not be used in landscaping with flowers. If ingested, the toxins in blackberries can cause vomiting, diarrhea, drooling, convulsions and even death in extremely small amounts. This means that you should not use blackberries in any landscaping with flowers, and if you do decide to use them, make sure your dog cannot drink the blackberries from the source.
Another plant that can cause harm is the bee balm. It is toxic to both humans and dogs, although the symptoms may be mild when ingested. The symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting and in some cases seizures. This plant contains a toxin that is a derivative of a natural chemical found in bee hives. Be sure to supervise anyone using this flower in landscaping with flowers or you could have an unexpected dog accident!
A popular landscaping plant is the white blossom kiva. This flower features a fern-like blooming flower, which attracts bees and butterflies. This flower can be deadly to dogs if they eat the blossoms, but the problem is that they only attack during the summer months, which make them a bit more challenging to find in flowerbeds. To eliminate this problem, you can spray the flower with Garden Homing insecticides such as Garden Virus or SafeGuard.
The last of the plants on this list of “Are garden flowers poisonous to dogs?” is the purple coneflower. Although it blooms in the spring, it can also be present in the fall and in the late summer. Because of this, it is imperative that any coneflower you have in your landscaping is destroyed before the hot summer months begin.
Although blackberries might look delicious to your dog, the berries are full of anthocyanin, which is a heart-damaging substance that can cause severe harm to your dog’s cardiovascular system. If your dog eats any blackberries or takes any blackberry juice, he or she will experience immediate symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Even more serious effects such as stroke and heart failure could result if the dog ingests too much blackberries.
Of course, if you are wondering “are garden flowers poisonous to dogs? “, another plant on your “don’t eat” list would be sunflowers. Sunflowers contain aflatoxins, which are poisons that can cause severe health problems and even death in dogs. Because sunflowers are eaten by birds, they can become contaminated with toxins from bird droppings. Bird droppings are everywhere, so the next time you are out landscaping, make sure to wipe any bird droppings off of your yard. You will be glad you did.
If you are still wondering “are garden flowers poisonous to dogs? “, you will find that some plants, although poisonous, are not poisonous at all. Many types of roses, for example, contain anti-fungal properties that help prevent the formation of dogsplenums, a deadly canine cancer. You should never give a dog a chance to ingest any of the garden plants listed above, as they are too poisonous to do anything to them. The safest way to keep your dog safe is to keep the garden clean of any unwanted or unsafe flowers.