10 Best Non-Toxic Houseplants That are Safe For Children, Cats & Dogs.
Non-toxic houseplants are among the most researched type of plants on the web these days.
Many people want to add plants to their homes for the many benefits they bring; from space enhancement to spiritual uplifting; from air cleaning and purification to good energy.
However, many of them, (including myself), worry about the toxicity of plants when having young children and beloved pets. Here is a list of the 10 Most Poisonous Indoor Plants your children and pets should avoid.
If you are considering adding some green to your home, but are worried about your crawling and curious toddler or your pet’s need to nibble on plants, you need to know that there are several non toxic-plants available out there!
There are dozens of safe plants for children, cats and dogs on the market, and many articles listing the best options suitable for these particular end users…However, I selected these 10 non-toxic houseplants solely based on their ease of care and maintenance, and my personal experience with them.
I purposely left out the breathtaking Prayer Plant, (Maranta Leuconeura), the Boston Fern and the pretty Fittonia because they are not that easy to care for. If you don’t live in a humid environment, these plants will be very high maintenance for you!
While these non-toxic houseplants are safe, it is still recommended you don’t allow your children or pets to feast on their leaves, flowers or stems.
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1. Spider Plant, (Chlorophytum Colosum)
The Spider Plant is not only a non-toxic houseplant; it’s one of the most versatile plants you can buy for your home. It has all the benefits you can think of; it’s extremely easy to care for, (basically impossible to kill), it does well in low light areas of your home or office, and it’s an excellent air purifier!
If you have a green thumb with an interest for propagation, this is a great plant to propagate as it produces many spiderettes that can be cut off from the mother plant and re-potted to make other plants.
This is an ideal hanging plant so if you still don’t want your pet to nibble on it you can simply hang it from the ceiling in a nice decorative hanging pot.
Spider Plants like to dry out thoroughly between waterings. They really don’t need constant watering.
Photo Credit: BuzzFeed
2. African violet, (Saintpaulia)
The African violet is a relatively easy to care for non-toxic houseplant once you’ve got watering figured out.
It comes in all sort of beautiful colours and variegations and it blooms all year round if proper lighting is provided.
Proper watering methods are critical for the success of this plant: never let it dry completely and never let it stand in water. Always water it from the bottom and don’t allow the leaves to get wet! Ideally, this plant is watered with lukewarm water that stood for 48 hours before pouring.
Its fuzzy leaves and flowers make it attractive to cats in particular!
Photo Credit: RepotMe.com
3. trailing jade, (peperomia rotundifolia)
This easy to care for non-toxic houseplant is not a succulent, as many are led to believe due to their thick and fleshy leaves.
In-fact, this plant enjoys medium natural light and more water than succulents. However, it is important to not over-water this beautiful trailing plant. Only water it when the top soil feels dry to the touch. I water mine every 10 days to 2 weeks.
Its branches grow quite long so this is more of a low maintenance hanging plant if you have a moderately bright spot for it in your home.
If you enjoy propagating plants, the Trailing Jade is relatively easy to propagate by either leaf or branch cut.
4. Christmas Cactus, (Schlumbergera)
The Schlumbergera is one of my favourite non-toxic houseplants. I love watching this plant constantly develop.
When I first bought it around Christmas time, it had a large amount of flowers on it. I slowly watched it drop flower after flower until they were all gone and every attempt at further blooming failed. All the buds kept falling off the plant until I finally figured out this plant loves lots of bright indirect light and specific watering. It is a succulent after all.
I water my plant once a week by slowly pouring water really close to the main stems so that the soil and plant really absorb the water rather than draining it out right away leaving a pool of water at the bottom of the pot. Do not over water this plant!
I slowly noticed new gorgeous blooms and after all the new blooms were gone, the plant started focusing on growing new bright and shiny green leaves.
5. wax plant, (Hoya carnosa)
The Wax Plant is an excellent non-toxic plant, safe for children and pets despite its succulent leaves.
The Hoya Carnosa isn’t technically a succulent. It’s a succulent-like plant.
This plant thrives in bright light conditions. The brighter the surrounding area, the more likely it will produce the sweet fragrant porcelain looking flower that doesn’t even seem real!
It needs to be watered when the soil is dry to the touch. I water mine once every two weeks in both winter and summer.
Wax Plants are extremely easy to propagate by simply cutting the stems and allowing them to grow roots into water.
Like the Spider Plant, the Hoya carnosa can be ceiling hung with a beautiful basket. Its trailing stems won’t grow terribly fast but the more bright light you provide, the faster it will grow.
The beautiful “porcelain” and fragrant flower of my friend’s Wax Plant.
I snipped a few cuttings from my friend’s massive Wax Plant. I’ve planted these cuttings a few months ago and the they are now thriving in a pot.
6. Parlor Palm, (Chamaedorea Elegans)
Parlor Palms come in all different sizes and grow quite slowly so that you can pick the right size for your purpose or space.
A tall Parlor Palm in a corner of your Living Room or Study adds a great deal of tropical feel to the space and brightens up the room greatly!
They are very easy to grow and care for non-toxic plants as they thrive in all sorts of environments. These plants do particularly well in low light pockets of your home and can fit in very cramped spaces with little watering.
However, it is important to avoid bright direct sun exposure! This plant is ideal for North and East facing windows that don’t get too much light.
Photo Credit: Ansel & Ivy
7. Baby Rubber Plant, (Peperomia Obtusifolia)
This is a quite easy to care for non-toxic houseplant with interestingly shaped, shiny and deep green leaves.
I keep mine in a relatively shaded shelf in a South facing room, this way it still gets plenty of light without being exposed to bright, direct sunlight. It seems like Rubber Plants thrive in bright but indirect sunlight, however, they do tolerate medium light.
I water mine once a week and I don’t give it too much water as this plant is an epiphytes.
8. Mini Orchid, (Phalaenopsis Orchid)
I have always been intimidated by Orchids. Their flowers are so incredibly beautiful to me that I have always been scared to ruin them or even kill the plant. I’ve always seen this plant as a forbidden beauty.
I recently decided it was time for me to get an Orchid and I wanted to buy a Mini Orchid as I planned to add it to a Closed Terrarium. These plants, like many epiphytes, thrive on high humidity and little watering so a Sealed Terrarium is the perfect environment for it.
I placed the plastic perforated tray in which Orchids come in into a base of water filled pebbles inside an Apothecary Jar and closed it with the lid, (great way to keep children and pets away from it!).
The plant did really well for three weeks then I noticed some mould on the flower pollinia and thought that maybe I should have kept the lid off the jar. So I left the jar open and the Orchid started producing new stems and blooms!
The secret is to keep the base of your pot in a pebble tray filled with water to create the humidity the plant needs and to water it by simply adding an ice cube inside the plant pot every week to 10 days depending on where you live. Orchid enjoy bright, indirect light.
For best advice on Orchids, I recommend you check out the justaddiceorchids website. It has excellent resources on everything Orchids!
9. chinese money plant, (pilea peperomioides)
I can talk about my Pilea for a very long time but for the purpose of this article I am going to stick with the facts;
It’s a very easy non-toxic houseplant to care for.
The Pilea loves a lot of indirect sunlight and watering every week or two. My Pilea sits by a big North facing window and it has grown significantly in the last year.
This is a great plant to have if you love to experiment with propagation. It produces a lot of offsets, (new plant shoots), that you can cut off from the mother plant and use to make new plants for yourself or your friends!
If you are interested on Plant Propagation, read my articles on Propagation for Kids and Plants in Progress.
If you want to learn more about the Pilea Plant, read my article on The Sharing Plant.
10. Bird's Nest Fern, (Asplenium Nidus)
This type of fern differs quite significantly from all other ferns in terms of foliage shape, light and watering requirements.
As an epiphytes, this non-toxic houseplant doesn’t require much light or water to thrive. The more light it receives, the more curly the leaves will be, the less light it gets, the flatter the leaves will be. It is however important you don’t place in too bright or too dark areas or it will die!
The Bird’s Nest Fern is an ideal plant for moderate to low light conditions but it doesn’t push darkness to an extreme as a ZZ plant would.
Water this plant when the soil is dry and not too often like you would do for other ferns!
This is definitely a great plant for those homes that don’t have a lot of bright light and for forgetful plant owners that can’t keep on track with a watering schedule!
By no means this is a complete list of all the non-toxic houseplants.
I’ve assembled this list based on my own experience with the plants we have in our home and thorough research on the subject.
I recommend you refer to the following websites for further research and information:
- Poison Control Centre for a complete list of Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants for humans.
- American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) website for a comprehensive list of Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants for pets.
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Hey Plant Loving Woman!
Are you a middle age mom?
Do you constantly feel overwhelmed and anxious?
Do you believe in the healing power of nature?
To reveal your #1 Personal Houseplant that best
helps you reduce your anxiety.
Photo 5: where is that jar from!!!!? 😊[email protected]
Hi! If you are referring to the glass jar with the Hoya stems, I got it from Walmart a couple of years ago!