For a garden with small children: only plants that reliable sources confirm are non-toxic are listed here. Where the data is uncertain or missing we left the plant out. The list only looks at toxicity, so it may include thorny plants.
60 plants from our verified database, by name. A plant is only listed when the data this list relies on is not in doubt. How our data is made
Aster alpinus 30 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
A low, cushion-forming perennial that carries large yellow-centred daisies in violet, blue, pink or white in late spring and early summer, which makes…
Callicarpa bodinieri 2 m × 1.7 m after 10 years
Beautyberry is grown not for its small lilac summer flowers but for the clusters of glossy violet berries that appear in autumn and stay on the bare…
Kolkwitzia amabilis 3 m × 3 m after 10 years
A large deciduous shrub with arching branches that are smothered in pale pink, yellow-throated bell flowers in late spring. It is very undemanding:…
Rubus fruticosus 2.5 m × 3 m after 10 years
Blackberry is a vigorous fruiting plant with long arching canes that is best tied to wires or a fence. It is self-fertile, so one plant gives a…
Aronia melanocarpa 1.8 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
An undemanding, completely hardy fruiting shrub: flat heads of white flowers in May, clusters of black, astringent berries ripening in late summer and…
Forsythia × intermedia 2.5 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
A fast-growing shrub with arching branches that are lined with golden yellow flowers in early spring, before the leaves appear. It is undemanding,…
Aster dumosus 40 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A low, dense, cushion-forming perennial that is smothered in purple, pink, blue or white yellow-centred daisies from late summer to mid-autumn, when…
Astilbe chinensis 60 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A perennial with ferny, dark green leaves that sends up stiff, feathery pink or lilac plumes from midsummer, later than the garden hybrid astilbes. It…
Rosa Climbing Group 3.5 m × 2 m after 10 years
Two types are sold as climbing roses. Climbers (large-flowered climbing roses) have thicker, stiffer canes, reach 2 to 4 metres and flower…
Campanula glomerata 50 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A garden form of a wild meadow bellflower: in early summer upright stems carry tight, rounded heads of violet-blue, upward-facing bells that bees…
Corylus avellana 4.5 m × 3.5 m after 10 years
A broad, multi-stemmed large shrub that is decorated with yellow catkins at the end of winter and bears hazelnuts in autumn; excellent for…
Thymus vulgaris 30 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
Common thyme is a low, evergreen, strongly scented subshrub that works as a kitchen herb, a bee plant and an edging for sunny, dry beds all at once.…
Heuchera sanguinea 45 cm × 35 cm after 10 years
A low perennial with a mound of leaves that stays green through winter, topped from late spring to early summer by airy sprays of tiny coral-red bells…
Cornus mas 3 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
A slow-growing, long-lived large shrub or small tree that covers itself in tiny yellow flowers at the end of winter, before the leaves, and is one…
Hemerocallis × hybrida 80 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Garden daylilies are almost indestructible, long-lived perennials: above a clump of arching, grassy leaves they carry trumpet-shaped flowers for weeks…
Cercis canadensis 3.5 m × 3 m after 10 years
Eastern redbud is a small, often multi-stemmed ornamental tree: in spring, before the leaves, rosy pink to purple pea flowers cover the bare…
Elaeagnus × ebbingei 2.5 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
A vigorous, dense evergreen shrub with leathery leaves that are glossy dark green above and silvery beneath, bearing tiny, barely visible but strongly…
Rosa Floribunda Group 90 cm × 70 cm after 10 years
The floribunda (the small-flowered polyantha roses belong here too) is a low, bushy rose that carries its flowers in clusters at the shoot tips and…
Penstemon digitalis 1 m × 50 cm after 10 years
In early summer stiff, upright stems rise from a low rosette of leaves, carrying loose spikes of white tubular flowers that bees and bumblebees…
Aster × frikartii 75 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
One of the longest flowering asters: its lavender-blue daisies with yellow centres keep coming from midsummer to late autumn, and butterflies and bees…
Agastache × hybrida 80 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
An upright perennial with anise and mint scented leaves that carries dense flower spikes from midsummer to the frosts and is among the best plants for…
Abelia × grandiflora 1.2 m × 1.2 m after 10 years
A semi-evergreen shrub with arching branches and glossy leaves that carries small, white, pink-flushed, scented bell flowers from early summer until…
Sanguisorba officinalis 90 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A native perennial of wet meadows: thin, wiry stems rise from a clump of pinnate leaves and carry small, dark red, egg-shaped flower heads from July…
Spiraea × cinerea 1.5 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
A dense, rounded bush with thin, arching shoots that are covered along their whole length with tiny snow-white flowers in April, before the leaves…
Rosa Ground Cover Group 60 cm × 1 m after 10 years
A group of low, wide-spreading roses (The Fairy and its relatives, the Flower Carpet series and similar) that cover a slope, a border edge or a…
Bergenia cordifolia 60 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
Its large, round, leathery, glossy leaves stay all year and flush burgundy and bronze in the cold, and in early spring it carries clusters of pink…
Aster ericoides 80 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A densely branched aster from the North American prairies with tiny, heather-like leaves, covered in September and October by clouds of very small…
Heuchera × hybrida 40 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
Coral bells are grown mainly for their low mound of lobed leaves, which stays decorative almost all year: cultivars come in deep purple to near black,…
Vaccinium corymbosum 1.5 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
Highbush blueberry is a handsome, dense shrub with white bell flowers in spring, blue berries in summer and fiery red leaves in autumn. It only…
Lonicera caerulea var. kamtschatica 1.5 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
Honeyberry is an undemanding, extremely hardy shrub that gives the earliest berries of the year: its powdery blue, elongated, sweet-tart fruit is…
Gleditsia triacanthos 7 m × 5 m after 10 years
A large tree with a loose crown and fine, fern-like foliage that casts only dappled shade, so lawn and other plants still grow underneath. It copes…
Rosa Hybrid Tea Group 1.2 m × 80 cm after 10 years
The hybrid tea is the classic cutting rose: one large, full flower on a long straight stem, in several flushes from May until the frosts. It suits a…
Aster amellus 60 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A low, bushy aster with large lavender, violet or pink daisies with yellow centres from late summer well into autumn, always busy with bees and…
Aster ageratoides 70 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A very tough, late-flowering aster: from late summer until the frosts it is covered in a haze of pale lilac, white or pinkish flowers, in sun or…
Acer palmatum 2.5 m × 2 m after 10 years
A slow, graceful small tree or mounded shrub grown for its finely cut leaves and vivid autumn colour; it suits small gardens, entrances and large…
Chaenomeles japonica 1 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
Japanese quince is a knee to waist high, wide-spreading thorny shrub that covers itself in orange-red flowers in early spring before the leaves, a…
Cornus kousa 3 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
An elegant, slow small tree or large shrub that carries white, star-shaped bracts for weeks in late spring, then turns red in autumn and bears…
Melissa officinalis 60 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
A bushy, lemon-scented kitchen and tea herb: pick the fresh leaves for salads, syrups and tea, and leave the tiny flowers for the bees that love them.…
Thymus × citriodorus 25 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
A low, cushion-forming evergreen subshrub whose tiny leaves smell strongly of lemon when rubbed, so you can pick it for fish, poultry and tea. In a…
Magnolia 'Susan' 2.5 m × 2 m after 10 years
A compact, slow-growing magnolia that opens its slender purple-red, paler-centred, lightly scented flowers before the leaves in April and early May,…
Rosa Miniature Group 40 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
Scaled-down versions of the big roses: dense little bushes 20 to 60 cm tall with tiny leaves and flowers 2 to 4 cm across that come in flushes from…
Aster novae-angliae 1.3 m × 80 cm after 10 years
A tall, stiff-stemmed autumn perennial that carries masses of purple, pink or carmine flowers with yellow centres from late August to October, just…
Origanum vulgare 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Oregano is a wildflower and a kitchen herb in one: from midsummer its pinkish-purple flowers are busy with bees and butterflies. It is happy in sunny,…
Campanula persicifolia 90 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
Peach-leaved bellflower sends up slender, upright stems from a rosette of narrow leaves in early summer, carrying large blue or white bells. It…
Carya illinoinensis 6 m × 4 m after 10 years
A huge, long-lived relative of the walnut that gives fine shade and sweet, buttery nuts, but only for a large garden: in time it becomes a broad…
Aster pyrenaeus 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A European aster that makes a low, broad, loose mound, covered for weeks from late summer into autumn with large, pale lilac, narrow-rayed daisies…
Rubus idaeus 2 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
Raspberry is a suckering cane fruit: summer types crop on last year's canes, autumn types on the current year's shoots, sometimes right into autumn.…
Centranthus ruber 80 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A bushy perennial with fleshy, blue-green leaves that carries clusters of small, fragrant crimson, pink or white flowers from late spring to autumn…
Rosmarinus officinalis 1.2 m × 1 m after 10 years
An evergreen, needle-leaved culinary shrub whose strongly aromatic shoots you can pick all year, and whose pale blue spring flowers are covered in…
Magnolia × soulangeana 4.5 m × 4 m after 10 years
A broad, multi-stemmed large shrub or small tree that covers itself in huge, lightly scented goblet flowers, pink or purplish outside and white…
Hippophae rhamnoides 3 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
A large thorny shrub with silvery, willow-like leaves whose orange, very sour, vitamin C rich berries ripen in autumn and stay decorative into winter.…
Rosa Shrub Group 1.5 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
A large, varied group of roses that grow into big, loose bushes; modern shrub roses and English roses belong here. Use them as specimens, at the…
Magnolia grandiflora 4 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
An evergreen tree with large, glossy, leathery leaves that are rusty and felted beneath, bearing huge creamy white, lemon-scented flowers in summer.…
Lamium maculatum 20 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
Spotted dead-nettle is a low, fast-knitting ground cover for shade and part shade: its silver-marked leaves brighten dark corners and pink, purple…
Phlox douglasii 10 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
A dwarf phlox that forms a tight evergreen cushion of needle-like leaves, completely hidden in spring under small pink, purple, red or white…
Weigela florida 2.5 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
An easy, dependable deciduous shrub that is covered in funnel-shaped pink, red or white flowers in late spring and early summer, often with a…
Sedum album 10 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
An evergreen succulent whose tiny cylindrical leaves knit into a low, dense mat that disappears under a haze of white flowers in early summer. It is a…
Salix alba 10 m × 7 m after 10 years
A native, very fast-growing, huge waterside tree whose narrow leaves are silky silver underneath. For gardens it is mostly sold as the golden…
Thymus serpyllum 8 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A scented subshrub only a few centimetres tall that roots as it creeps into a flat mat and is covered in pink and purple flowers, and bees, in summer.…
Satureja montana 40 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A low, woody-based, semi-evergreen herb with glossy, narrow, peppery-scented leaves that you can use fresh or dried in the kitchen. From midsummer its…
Toxicity data is for information only. If your pet or child has eaten a plant, contact a vet or a doctor.
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