Any idea what this may be?!

[CharlieandLolaCat]

Clearly I planted it but I planted lots! Any ideas welcome!

Lily?

I think it is Day Lilly also known as hemerocallis.

Perfect! Thank you. Shall report back.

The pollen is lethal to cats, by the way.

You could snip the stamens off the moment they appear, but if you've got loads, it might be better to gait your teeth and dig them up.

Oh god really @NeverDropYourMoonCup - always thought mine were pretty indestructible ... maybe not.

I did also plant some crocosmia but I don't think I have any coming up ... wondering if I planted them upside down!

The other thing that looks rather like that is some irises - I had some iris foetidissma arrive out of nowhere. If you bruise a leaf and it smells sort of meaty, that's what it is, and the seed heads open to rather nice orange 'berries'

Another vote for hemerocallis, I’ve just discovered that’s what I have in my new garden as they’ve just started blooming - I was hoping for crocosmia! They are beautiful, but I have cats, so they gotta go.

I think snipping stamens off lilium species is a reasonable prospect but hemerocallis literally only flower for one day, you’d have to be on daily stamen patrol.

I think that it is what is commonly called Stinking Iris . It pops up all over the plain my garden.

@ErrolTheDragon has stated the correct Latin name for Stinking Iris. The flowers look quite pretty but smell of rotting meat.

There seems to be a massive list of things poisonous to cats . I've had most of them in my garden, always had cats, never had an issue with any plant.

Surely most animals wouldn't eat enough of any plant to actually do any harm.

The issue with Lily pollen is it’s easy for the cat to get it on it’s fur if it brushes past it, and then they ingest it when they groom, and small amounts can have devastating effects. I’ve seen plenty of cats be very ill with Lily pollen toxicity, but usually from cut flowers indoors.

Perhaps relatively unlikely to get pollen on themselves from outdoor flowers….but I cannot take the risk. One of my cats does climb that fence they’re against as well.

Day lilies aren't actually lilies. It seems they may be toxic to some cats, sometimes. (We had cats when I was a kid, and a big clump of day lilies, coexisted fine).

www.daylilynetwork.org/blogpost/660039/132589/Are-Daylilies-toxic-to-cats

I believe the problem with true lilies is worse, in particular due to pollen shedding onto fur rather than deliberate ingestion.

But I still think it's an iris anyway, I'm pretty sure now I look at the photos compared with day lilies those leaves are too coarse to be the latter.

Disclosure - I am a vet so deal with lily toxicity first hand routinely. International society for feline medicine (ISFM) specifically lists lilium and hemerocallis species as toxic and we treat exposure to both of these the same. I’m afraid I don’t find a list of anecdotes from an association promoting the plants a particular credible source of info when it comes to this!

ISFM info directed for owners
icatcare.org/advice/lethal-lilies/

Excerpts from veterinary critical care/toxicology textbooks stating both lilium and hemerocallis are toxic
www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/hemerocallis

Personally I’m generally quite relaxed about “toxic plants” in my garden because previous posters are right, most animals aren’t going to eat these things, so it’s just not a practical issue. Lily pollen however - really not worth the risk with cats, having seen otherwise young and healthy animals be made very ill, left with a life-limiting chronic condition or killed by it. It’s usually exposure to cut flowers indoors. But personally I just will not take the risk.

The others that I won’t have in my garden for this reason are grapes (I have dogs too), and foxgloves.

Shame but there are other options!

I thought my hemerocallis were iris until they bloomed as well. OP you’ll have to update us when they open as to what they are!

Knowing my luck (and the British weather) they'll bloom for one day when I'm out but if I see them I'll share!

Thanks LemonViolet. The link I gave had people - like on here - who'd never seen a problem, but the expert at the end was clear enough there could be.
The point is, cats coexisting with lilies is luck not judgement, like dogs with raisins.

OP, I think you'll be waiting a while for those in the photo to bloom, those look like seed heads not buds. If it is the iris I'm thinking of, the flowers are rather dull. I'd never noticed any till last year (it's described as 'Widespread in Britain south of the Humber, scarce further north. ' ... I'm in Lancashire) but there seem to be a few around the area now so maybe their range is spreading.

I agree with Errol. It’s Iris foetidissima. The “buds” will open in due course to reveal orange pea-sized seeds, not flowers.

I am going to dig our large Day Lily up - we have cats- and give it to the local plant sale. Thanks for that info. I am not that keen on it anyway.

That's interesting LemonViolet, thank you. I've never had lilies.

I won't have foxgloves either, and I've never felt happy with having Laburnum because of the mange-tout like seeds, but I've never worried about much else apart from Arum because the berries look yummy and are just a dog/toddler height.

I wouldn’t worry about lily toxicity as they are NOT lillies!

What is the risk with foxgloves and pets? Do the animals have to eat the plant?

@that1970shouse

What is the risk with foxgloves and pets? Do the animals have to eat the plant?

I think so. Apparently although toxic it doesn't tend to cause too many problems in practice to grazing animals (which are more likely to be tempted than a dog) because it's unpalatable. Similar may apply to other poisonous plants.

It's probably a good idea to have some safe plants your dog is allowed to eat. They do seem (like cats) to sometimes self-medicate, in particular making themselves sick.

Foxgloves have to be eaten to be toxic yes but only a small amount can be quickly fatal to a small animal - I have seen rabbits and a guinea pig killed by it for example. Again, for me just personally that one is not worth the unlikely event my small dogs might chew on it. It’s the whole severity/likelihood balance of risk assessment. Unlikely, but catastrophic if it happened. Other things that are similar likelihood but not as disastrous if eaten, I’m more relaxed about.