Complete novice - Child and Pet friendly plants

[Green777]

Hello,

I’m looking for recommendations for indoor and outdoor plants that are safe for children and pets, that are easy to look after and don’t need a lot of sunlight, that will live through winter. Am I asking too much?

@Green777
Am I asking too much?
I'm afraid so! I hoped that somebody else would answer this but in their absence ...
Have a look at this website where you can filter to find plants that will tolerate shade. You can put in other filters, too, like soil-type and flower-colour.
Once you have found something, then you can research its toxicity - the webpage doesn't seem to filter for that.

You can always check back here if you have a specific query. But a general query was too wide-reaching!

Imo most plants are 'safe for children' as they shouldn't be in a garden unsupervised until they're old enough to understand the risks.

Dogs seem pretty sensible about not eating things that are bad for them.

The things I'd most avoid are contact irritants. If you've got cats then lillies are probably a no-no because of the pollen.

You can’t have everything unfortunately but there are lessons in that for kids. For outside I’d go for herbs- rosemary and sage then perennial herbs like chives, mint (in a pot for mint ) thyme etc. you need some sun but they’re the easiest to grow and edible and understanding seasonality is good. Otherwise look at succulents or do hanging baskets with edibles- e.g violas for winter.

@senua thanks so much, I’ll check that out and research the filtered ones that I like for toxicity

@ErrolTheDragon yes I have dogs that don’t seem bothered but my cat on the other hand is very interested in flowers and leaves that I’ve put out in vases so I’ll have to be careful with plants - contact irritants is something I’ll research too, so far it’s looking like some palm plants and calatheas are good options

@feelinglikepeaches that was my next question! What to plant with children so thank you for those suggestions