Can I nom it?
October 17, 2015 5:51 AM   Subscribe

I moved into a great new place yesterday, with a garden. I have hit the Holy Grail of Paris-area apartments. However. Garden has plants from previous tenant. I have cats. Cats will nom the plants. I'm unfamiliar with a few of the plants, and am particularly worried about curious noms of this one. MeFi, can my cats eat these? Or should I remove them?

- Berry plant from further away
- Plant with similarly shaped leaves but different colors.
- Drastically pruned shrub, looks like it might be the same as the one with berries?

Thank you, MeFites! Kitties are still hiding under the duvet, but soon they'll want to explore the cat-grass field.
posted by fraula to Home & Garden (11 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: I am no expert but that looks a lot like a Pieris, which the ASPCA says is quite problematic for dogs and cats.
posted by jon1270 at 8:05 AM on October 17, 2015


Best answer: Drastically pruned shrub is a Hydrangea. I *think* berry plant is a Skimmia japonica, female, but I'm not 100% sure. I have no idea about either plant being toxic to cats, but the cats from three doors down have never nibbled either shrub in my garden. YCMBH.
posted by Solomon at 10:36 AM on October 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: I love hydrangeas! Unfortunately they're toxic to cats :( may just put wire fencing around it (it's not deathly toxic). Skimmia japonica appears to be safe, and that does look like it.

Any ideas about the plant with differently-colored leaves? I see it a lot in gardens here, as I do skimmia japonica.
posted by fraula at 11:26 AM on October 17, 2015


Best answer: The one with differently colored leaves says "Andromeda" to me, a variegated Andromeda. I may be wrong. It will have distinctive flowers in the spring which will nail the identity. Don't know about cat-noming.
posted by molasses at 11:35 AM on October 17, 2015


Best answer: Number 3 is not a hydrangea. I'm not sure what it is, but it's definitely not a hydrangea. The stems are too woody and the leaves are the wrong shape. It might be some kind of viburnum but I can't identify it reliably.

The variegated one looks like a pieris.

The first one looks like a skimmia japonica. You'll definitely know when it flowers in the spring.

Most plants are not okay for cats to eat, even if they're not outright poisonous. You might have to train your felines to leave everything alone or not let them outside at all.
posted by lydhre at 11:51 AM on October 17, 2015


Response by poster: Cats only go outside under direct surveillance.
posted by fraula at 12:13 PM on October 17, 2015


Best answer: I think #2 might be Azalea "Silver Sword". Any change of a pic of the growth buds?

#3 looks extremely similar in leaf shape and growth habit to the hydrangea I have in my garden. GIS for "hydrangea pruning".
posted by Solomon at 12:18 PM on October 17, 2015


Response by poster: Lots of woody hydrangea in Oregon as well, hadn't seen one in ages (was in a very different climate before Paris).

Will take a pic of the growth buds on the silver-edged plant tomorrow and repost. It probably is an azalea. Will protect it from curious cats as well, but am not too worried – grew up in rhododendron central and none of our cats went near them. Will still watch the cats, of course. Would remove the plants if they were like lilies, whose pollen is deadly.
posted by fraula at 2:07 PM on October 17, 2015


Best answer: I'm in the US and the second plant looks like either Andromeda or Daphne, but that could be because 1/2 the houses around here have one or the other. It's awfully gangly tho so I'm thinking it's andromeda.
posted by fiercekitten at 2:08 PM on October 17, 2015


Response by poster: Here are closer pics of all three:
- "berry plant" (probably skimmia japonica)
- silver-edged leaf plant, the way the leaves are growing I don't think it's azalea... looks like it may be a "flaming silver" pieris japonica as others have suggested?
- hydrangea

The good thing is the pieris/azalea and skimmia are alongside a neighbor's fence, which is also a place I don't want the cats to go, so I'll be able to section them off and direct the fluffballs elsewhere in the garden when they're outside.
posted by fraula at 4:54 AM on October 18, 2015


For what it's worth, my cat eats the leaves of my peonies (poisonous), my ash tree (unknown), my viburnums (depending on which) and the leaves on my hydrangeas (poisonous) and he is fine. I am of the opinion that most of these lists very highly overrate the poisonousness of plants, and in fact most of them have never had any effect on him despite repeated eating of each of the tastier ones. Once or twice he's had runny poops or thrown up leaves like he would grass, but overall they seem to bother him none.

We did take up the lillies and the white oleander because they're actually poisonous to cats. the rest all popped up as "may cause stomach upset or vomiting in extreme cases" and all he ever really does is bite a leaf or two, and with the ash, crunch up the dead leaves. they've all been fine. So, I'd just make sure your cat isn't eating like a crazy toxic dose.
posted by euphoria066 at 7:45 PM on October 18, 2015


« Older Is it important to separate living space from the...   |   Former colleague on interview panel Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.