And yet...you have to put a fence around your pool.

My friend up the road plants castor bean every year, she has no close neighbors with children; but I always worried about her cat when she had one.

I've never given this much thought to tell the truth, and when I come to think of it I have a lot of what are deemed poisonous to either humans or animals or both in my garden. Foxgloves, Daphne, Narcissus, Laburnum, Clematis, Rhubarb leaves and flowers, Lily of the Valley, Monkshood to name a few.
I was growing most of these plants while I raised three children and never had a problem. My kids were told what was poisonous in the garden, also told never to eat anything from a plant they didn't know.
Children actually listened and took to heart what was said to them in those days I don't know about now.

I never heard of one case of poisoning from a child eating something they picked in fact the only poisoning I knew of was a case of food poisoning that wiped out a whole family from eating home canned salmon, to this day I can't eat home canned salmon. I don't care how safe they say it is I was in grade 2 at the time and one of the children that died was a classmate and a close friend.

In today's world parents don't or can't take the time to educate kids about these things, in fact many don't have the gardens or even have access to these plants to actually show what not to touch, I don't know what the answer is, just telling them not to touch doesn't work anymore. Society has changed so much since we were raising ours and I'm afraid not for the better, so sad. I think it was much simpler to raise children when we were raising ours
and from what I see around me now children were better behaved and had good manners when out and about, well for the most part :). When did it all go wrong.

Annette

Schoolhouse- I know, I check for cat and dog poisonous, as well as kids :)

Martha and Annette- We were told by my mom not to eat lily of the valley...and we didn't eat it. But, this is not just neighbor kids I'm concerned about. We don't really have close neighbors. It's more that people like to bring their kids out to see the horses...and when you're watching kids and horses, there's not much time left to watch kids and plants!

My husband has friends with kids (one couple has three under 8) and we like having them over, but they run all around the yard. I don't mind, but I told my mom, it would probably be better to put highly toxic plants in their own, fenced area.

She's excited to create her own garden and I'm happy we have the space for her to do it...and it's in a great location for sun/wind protection. And since we have deer, she's fine with fencing it in. I just wondered if others had the same issues.

I have read about kids getting very sick (maybe even dying) from Daphne berries and that's why I don't plant any. My mom had one years ago and I had no idea it was poisonous, but we were teenagers by then.....

Nothing wrong with being safe Lavender.
Annette

I don't put poisonous plants where my pets can reach them (I don't have children).

I do grow plants with known toxicity and don't give them a second thought. No one I know - or don't know - eats my landscaping other than the deer.

At the age I am now, my house isn't childproof either. Children visiting are not left unsupervised, inside or out.

But please, I hope you'll reconsider letting your mother grow lily of the valley, unless you are OK with having it forever. What a runner and a spreader ;)

If I worried about toxic plants I wouldn't grow tomatoes.

tj

I grow toxic plants, carolina jessamine and daffodils come to mind, but I try to plant edibles along the entrance to the front door. When my son was little, he'd grab a handful of mint or lavender or sage or marigold leaves as we walked out of or into the house. But along with each handful, came an instruction from me on what the plant was, that it was safe to eat, and to always check with me first. When he was 3, we were house hunting, and sure enough, he came running up to me with a daisy from the lawn in his hand and a request to eat it. (Yes, I have a strange child.) I suggested that it might not be wise and offered him a packet of goldfish crackers instead. Mission accomplished: he doesn't stick unknown plants into his mouth. Of course, he's now 6.5 and still munches on dandelions, so it's not quite foolproof.

I still keep a pot of mint by the front door and it often gets leaves plucked off it as we walk out.

Yes Artemesia. And some day I may use it !!! Hahahahabwahaha ! Kidding.

I grow toxic plants, but have no kids or pets currently. One advantage is that the voles don't eat them.

I think most of us have at least one or two toxic plants if not more in our gardens and not given it much thought. Some of the veggies we eat have toxic parts, some have to be prepared or cooked a certain way before eating. Grapes for instance are toxic to dogs, can cause renal failure. We just have to use common sense, children should be taught at an early age not to put anything in their mouths that hasn't been checked out by their parents.

Annette

Honeysuckle, clematis, daffodils, amaryllis, arum, bluebells, daphne, digitalis, euonymous, hedera, poppies, solanum species, euphorbia, anemones and tulips in an area about 15 x 25 feet.

Somehow the kids survived although we did have a grid over the pond when they were small.

I'm always conscious about poisonous plants although I have a few of them like delphiniums. I won't plant anything that gives sap that can kill or make one ill too easily. These group includes monkshood, foxgloves, euphorbia and castor bean plant.

I know daffodils and hyacinths are toxic but didn't realize tulips are too since I've heard of Danes and people from Holland having to eat tulips during WWII. turns out it's partially true as parts of the plant is poisonous but not all.. However tulips are toxic to dogs.

A friend's horse died from eating oleander that blew into his pasture. This was in Arizona where they have huge, huge hedges of them growing a long the roadsides and freeways. These hedges are monstorous and unavoidable cheap landscaping that is everywhere. Those always make me nervous. But I think you should plant what you like in your own yard. I know lilies are incredibly toxic to cats and a former neighbor specifically grew them to repel the neighborhood strays :-(

I love castor beans because my grandpa planted them and it reminds me of him. Also, they are tropical-looking and few tropical things grow in my zone. I've had kids pick my sunflowers, red hot poker, walking iris. I also grow milkweed. I don't want any children to be hurt, but I'm not going to babysit the world. I probably sound cold-hearted, but it's too bad common sense isn't very common any more (like leave your neighbor's flowers alone).