Cats and Ferns

[ISaySteadyOn]

I have a corner in my garden that is really only suitable for ferns. However, I also have a cat and I know some ferns are toxic/poisonous to them. The problem is that Google has not actually been helpful in telling me which are which. So I thought I would come here and ask you. Could you recommend some ferns that are ok to have with cats? Thanks.

That’s not something I’d heard about. I’ve got a variety of native ferns (male fern, lady fern, Soft shield, harts tongue, polypody, hard fern, royal fern, marsh fern, oak fern) and a couple of non-natives in the garden, and have had no cat-poisoning incidents by ferns in 30 years and 15 cats.

You may get on better looking up individual ferns, for example Gardener’s World says soft shield fern has no known toxicity to cats.

Thank you! That's good to hear. Also, thanks for listing the ferns. I am new to growing them and didn't know where to start. Now I have somewhere.

I wouldn't worry tbh. If you have an outside cat, they will be around all sorts of toxic plants. If I check the list, I have several, as do my neighbours, and everyone has cats.

Put in some Catnip and Catmint too. Cats like them.

cats love catnip just keep in mind it may not survive.My grandma got catnip plant it was mowed flat by morning =p

Thanks everyone. I knew this was the right place to ask 😁

Well I've just googled and it said that true ferns are not toxic to cats, but some plants that look like ferns are. I think it might tend to be indoor plants as cats do tend to chew houseplants sometimes in the absence of grass.

I've had cats and ferns sharing my garden for nearly 40 years and have never seen a cat take any interest in taking a nibble.

A wire hanging basket is the answer to that. Plant it upside down over the catnip, so they can only get at the bits that grow though the cage and not the core part of the plant.

Make sure the basket is well pinned down and the mesh is too small to allow paws in.