Good and Bad Plants for Homes with Pets

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Plants can enhance the look and feel of your home, and some can even improve your indoor air quality. But if you have pets, you need to be selective about the plants you bring into your home. Choosing the right plants allows you to enjoy a lush indoor herb garden or a striking bowl of succulents without worrying about your pet's health. Choose one of the plants below to ensure you can beautify your space risk and worry-free.

Pet Friendly Indoor Plants

• Spider Plants: Lush, full and capable of spawning dozens of offspring at a time, spider plants add a delightful splash of green to any location in your home. Long a favorite of veterinarians, spider plants are safe, easy to grow and can even help improve the air quality in your home, according to Architectural Digest.
• Indoor herb garden: Many of the same culinary herbs humans enjoy are safe for pets. Liven up your kitchen and your meals with an indoor herb garden using some pet safe herbs, including mint, chamomile, thyme and basil. You can also add catnip, but this will attract your cats to your herbs, even in its natural, undried state.
• Air plants and succulents: Add air plants of any type and choose from a wide variety of succulents, the vast majority and the most common varieties are pet safe. Avoid jade plant and aloe, but other popular succulents, like Christmas cactus, Hens and Chicks and Echeverias are all pet friendly. Place in a terrarium or enclosure to keep pets away; succulents have short roots, and a curious pet could easily dislodge them, killing the plant you've been caring for and enjoying.

Dangerous Plants if you Have Pets

There are plenty of plants that are hazardous to pets and that should be enjoyed in another setting, not your home. Check any plant you are considering bringing home for pet-friendliness -- and avoid the plants below; these are considered dangerous to animals:

• Aloe
• Amaryllis
• Begonia
• Poinsettia
• Lily, most varieties
• Tulips and daffodils (potted, the bulbs are the dangerous parts)
• Philodendron, most varieties
• Snake Plant

Choosing the right plants lets you enjoy the benefits of greenery indoors, without risk; choose from the first list above to ensure you add a colorful accent to your home without worrying about your pet's health. If you're not sure about a plant, check the ASPCA list of toxic plants to ensure the pieces you bring into your home are truly safe.