Recommendations for non-toxic perennial plants for backs of borders?

[Edith]

Hi guys. I'm so not a flower grower, I'm a vegetable grower but we've just opened out our garden a little and gained border space and want to grow some nice flowers up against the shed. Lots of smaller bulbs in there as well as existing, well maintained, currants and a dwarf pear. so looking specifically for flowers with height. Its a random look we are going for (obviously :-) )

I love foxgloves, delphiniums, irises and hellebores but I have to err on the side of caution because there are a lot of kids in and out of the garden. Now my own kids I'm not concerned overmuch about as I know they will not sample plants they don't know, and can identify the obvious poisonous ones as well. I'm more concerned for other kids in the garden especially as we have a lot of non-gardening friends with very young kids. I don't really want to have to be out there all the time if there are kids over. And because there are things in my garden which are edible for the kids, it might be that much easier to get confused.

So I'm after nice looking non-toxic, tall plants. So far I have on my list hollyhocks and cosmos.

I'm not amazingly fussy, I'm not avoiding daisies or daffodils, its more the highly toxic stuff I'm keen to avoid.

Oh just ETA to say, self seeding annuals would also be great :-)

[Martin H]

My opinion has always been not to worry unless something looks edible. Things like foxgloves just don't look like food so I grew them even when the kids were tiny. If they are still at the stage of putting everything in their mouth they shouldn't be unattended in the garden anyway.

Obviously avoid things like laburnum if the kids know that peas come from pods not chest freezers, they do look like toy food.

Or, there's sunflowers...

[veggiechicken]

Hello Edith from another Cardiffian!!
You may find this thread helpful http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...rds_70622.html

[zazen999]

I had just come in to post a link to that!

[veggiechicken]

Great minds Zaz

[Edith]

:-) ok.

Listen, its not that I don't agree in principle with the idea that kids need to be taught to check stuff and so forth. Honestly, I've run school garden projects, I know this one, and I've done more than my share of risk assessments. If I were to be seeing a kid regularly I'd talk them through this and it would be different. If it were my allotment, where some stuff is toxic, then I wouldn't take a child up who I wasn't confident wouldn't sample random stuff, or I'd make sure they were supervised, or whatever.

But, you know, in my own garden, which is primarily a space where we relax and entertain, I want people to be able to relax and not worry. I want parents of younger kids, and kids I know with certain SEN, to be able to sit and have a cup of tea with me while their kids potter, not have to follow them around. TBH it seems to me similar to the way that, even though my kids are older and its not a hazard for them, I do make sure that bleach and other cleaning products are up on high shelves before little kids, or slightly older kids I don't know so well, come round. It just makes life that much easier on the parents and means they get a shot at relaxing and having a conversation. This really is about making life easier and nicer for guests, especially those I see fairly infrequently and/or who are not gardeners. It doesn't make an enormous difference to me whether I grow hollyhocks or foxglove, so it seems to me I might as well make planting choices with my guests in mind. (and I have window boxes and a front garden for hellebores and foxgloves anyway ;-))

So with that in mind-any recommendations for nice, non toxic, plants for borders? Seriously, I'm not a flower gardener at all so even the most obvious list of flowers would be helpful.

Oh and yes! Sunflowers on the list though they are more for our front garden as that's where the sun is :-)

[WendyC]

My favourite tall perennial is verbena bonariensis. Self seeds too.

[veggiechicken]

^^^^ I like that too!! I'm reluctant to say that any flowers that I like are non-toxic as I honestly don't know Here's a list of one's to avoid - Potentially harmful garden plants / Royal Horticultural Society
If you want to be really safe, grow ornamental vegetables. Salsify and scorzonera have beautiful flowers, or some of the big herbs like fennel and dill, or alliums.

[rustylady]

What about Globe Artichokes?

[Two_Sheds]

I'm after nice looking non-toxic, tall plants. .. not avoiding daisies or daffodils, its more the highly toxic stuff I'm keen to avoid.

You realise that daffs are poisonous (tulips too), so you know your stuff. I admit to getting a bit prickly when asked to provide non-toxic plants, because I think we are sending the wrong message, rather than teaching children to exercise caution with ALL plants we are simply banning things.

However. You know all that.



So, tall? Back of border?

- Jerusalem Artichokes (small sunflowers, also edible, if you like that sort of thing). They'll come up every year, if you don't eat them all.

- Cosmos, although they're HHA so won't self-seed
- cornflowers can get pretty tall, up to 3'

You might have to go for climbers to give the height you want. Put some clematis netting against the shed, leaving a lovely gap for the sparrows to roost behind.
Then grow climbing nasturtiums, honeysuckle or roses, but not clematis.

[Two_Sheds]

Salsify and scorzonera have beautiful flowers, or some of the big herbs like fennel and dill, or alliums.

They're all only about 24" high though, I thought she wanted high-high ... sunflower high

[veggiechicken]

Maybe, but there aren't that many flowers that grow as high as sunflowers . Some of the ornamental alliums can be quite tall and my bronze fennel is at least 3'.
Apart from climbers on trellis there's the obelisk option.

[Martin H]

More thoughts ...

How about Campanula lactiflora. Herbaceous perennial but makes a big, striking plant for the back of the border in summer, where for me it grows 5-6 feet tall. I like the grey-blue flowers of the type, but varieties go from white to blue.

Also you can try some of the bigger thistles, like the globe thistle (Echinops) and Mrs Wilmott's Ghost (Eryngium). Once you've got them you'll never get rid of them

I like hollyhocks too, they don't live very long but set lots of seed. Unfortunately I have to spray them with fungicide to keep the rust off, you may not want to grow them for that reason.

[Two_Sheds]

try some of the bigger thistles, like the globe thistle (Echinops) and Mrs Wilmott's Ghost (Eryngium).

... if you like tweezering prickles out of the skin of wailing children ! There are vicious spines on those things

[Edith]

Great suggestions, thank you!

Actually a range of heights is great, I'm just not so much after bedding plants as I have a lot of low growing herbs and strawberries already in there. I'm not too worried about thistles, prickles don't kill kids.

The whole debate on toxicity vs non-toxicity IS an interesting one actually, I see both sides. I feel strongly about teaching kids to be safe in any garden and have done that with my own. But the other side to that is that, for kids whose parents can't or won't do this, or who are not able to understand the message, its nice and, I think in the long run a good investment, for them to enjoy being outside in a garden. I can still enforce the no sampling rule, I can still point out toxic-but-low-concern plants, I can still teach basic garden safety, but with the risk being just way lower than if I had fatally toxic at low ingestion plants like foxgloves, say. I do put these plants in my front garden by the way-I am not inviting small kids to play in my front garden! But I also think spaces for kids to be able to explore with minimal supervision are really helpful in teaching them to love nature and gardening.