Top 5 Dog-Friendly Plants and How to Care for Them
Spring is here, and with it often comes a desire for beautifying your property with a variety of flowers, trees, and shrubs. However, many pet owners have to think first before planting, as many plant varieties can be poisonous to dogs. Don’t take chances with your dog’s health when planting this spring. Here are five different dog-friendly plants that will give your home’s landscaping wonderful curb appeal.
Pineapple Sage
Pineapple sage plants smell incredible. They attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees with their pink, tubelike flowers. Pineapple sage flowers can be used to add flavor to foods such as fruit salads and sangria, or drank as a tea. To grow pineapple sage, you need a sunny location with well-drained soil that is consistently moist. They enjoy the morning sun and afternoon shade.
Purple Basil
Beautiful and edible, purple basil brings a lovely color to your garden beds. You need to plant purple basil after there is no chance of frost coming. Bury your purple basil seedlings 6-8 inches deep in a well-draining soil that is rich in organic content. Give them lots of water and a spot in your yard that receives full sunlight. A minimum of six hours of direct sunshine every day is recommended.
Sunflowers
Sunflowers are the embodiment of summer. An annual plant, sunflowers are found in a wide variety of colors and sizes. These dog-friendly plants grow several feet tall, with some varieties reaching 14 feet in height. Sunflowers grow best in spots that receive 6-8 hours of direct sun per day. They prefer loose, well-drained soil, that has compost or other organic matter mixed into it.
Rosemary
This evergreen beauty is wonderfully-fragrant and safe for you and your dog to munch on. Its needle-like leaves and brilliant blue flowers will bless your garden with a nice, pine smell when your dog runs by. Used for seasoning dishes, rosemary is a great plant to use to fill empty spaces in your garden. Rosemary plants require well-drained, sandy soil and 6-8 hours of sunlight. It is recommended to grow them in containers which can be placed in the ground so that they can easily be moved indoors in the wintertime.
Magnolia Bushes
Many people envision large, elegant trees when they think of magnolias, but this dog-friendly plant also grows as a bush. Magnolia bushes present breathtaking blooms in pink, purple or white. They will stay happy in full sun to light shade if they are able to have it. Keep the soil moist, but not soggy.
To plant a magnolia bush, begin by digging a hole that is a bit shallower and two times as wide as the root ball. Enriching the soil with peat moss is helpful. Now, plant the root ball so that the top of it is about ½ inch above the surface of the soil, and fill in the hole with soil. Add mulch around the base to help protect the roots.
Whether you garden in a big backyard or on a sunny windowsill, be sure to always take the health of your pets into consideration when choosing plants. For a comprehensive list of toxic and non-toxic plants for dogs from the ASPCA, click here.