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Mixing Houseplants and Pets in Your Salon

© Jill Florio

I like houseplants and have them all over my house, which is also my Grooming Salon. Houseplants clean the air, provide a bit of humidity to my dry indoor climate, and look cheerful!

However, with all the dogs in and out of the place, I have to be careful which houseplants are within reach, or can be pulled down by curious dogs for chewing.

Some plants are poisonous! Don't let your dog get these plants in his mouth:

• Diffebachia/Dumb Cane
• Pothos
• Calla Lily
• Anthurium
• Peace Lily
• Philodendron
• Cactus (not toxic, but those spines hurt!)

• And during the Holiday Season, be careful of decorating with:
• Poinsettia
• Holly Berries
• Mistletoe

This website lists injestion symptoms and tells you what to do (obviously, immediately call your vet in ANY case of suspected pet poisoning!): Poisonous houseplants

These are nice-looking, no fuss plants I would use in the salon:

• Palms
• Jade Plant
• Schefflera/Umbrella Plant
• Dracaena/Corn Plant
• Wandering Jew
• Spider Plant (snip off rootlets, so dogs can't drag this plant down onto their silly heads!)
• Catnip (grow it in a small pot - cats LOVE it and dogs ignore it. It smells nice when you bruise the leaves, and makes a good tea to help settle upset human stomachs)
• Monstera

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For those of you new to houseplants, I recommend you take a look at this comprehensive online course, at Suite101's University website, Houseplants for Beginners.

This inexpensive course includes lists, pictures and descriptions of best plants for each window exposure and area of your home; easiest plants for beginners; popular plants that are NOT for beginners; and best plants for Chronic Overwaterers! Using discussion questions and simple quizzes, the student will learn about their personal growing style.

Here are the styles discussed in the course. Type of suitable plants for each style is discussed in further course lessons.

• Let Live Style - If you don't like to fuss over plants and sometimes forget to water them, you want a Houseplant for the Black Thumb.

• Basic Style - If you like fuss-free plants but are sure you can at least water them regularly, you want an Easy-Care Gem

• Attentive Style - If you love handling the watering can and want to do it every day, you want a Fail-Safe Plant for the Chronic Overwaterer.

Altogether, this is a fun, easy course for plant newbies and black thumb gardeners, that packs a lot of information into the four lesson sections. It's loaded with plant pictures illustrating the lessons within.

This course is considered an intoductory level course for several other Houseplant and Gardening Courses within the SuiteU School of Gardening.