Hosta plants are toxic to dogs and cats, and some other animals like horses.
For that reason, people with those animals should probably not think about growing these plants.
They're also slug and snail magnets.
So where are these piles of sickly cats and dogs? Please provide hard , science based evidence.
If you do your own research it will only take a few seconds on google.
Why would you try and undermine anyone with genuine concern about people not wanting to poison their much loved animals?
And if you want to apply your own standards to yourself, then please provide 'hard, science based evidence' that hostas are *not* toxic to certain animals like cats, dogs and horses.
Throwing around insults to try and undermine other people's concerns is no substitute for providing the 'hard, science based evidence' you demand from other people but can't/won't provide yourself.
It seems that hostas contain saponins which are poisonous and cause vomiting, diarrhoea and depression. Another one to add to the list of plants to be careful with but not to the extent of excluding them from our gardens.
Have to say, I've had cats for nearly 50 years now and dogs for the last 10 and have always grown potentially toxic plants such as foxglove, aconitum, hosta, American pokeweed and so on and so far have found that cars and people are far more dangerous to my pets than plants.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Even lettuce eaten in quantity is dangerous to rabbits (in more ways than one, remember Mr MacGregor) ... however a little lettuce nibbled in passing, as rabbits do, is not going to do any harm ... I strongly suspect, from what I've read, that hostas fall into the same category ... a few nibbles out of a leaf or two will not cause a problem ... a pile of hosta leaves picked and fed to a rabbit with no access to other foods will make it poorly.
Rabbits need little bits of a wide variety of food, in order to maintain a healthy digestive system ... it is not in their nature to gorge themselves on one food. When foraging for our rabbits we made sure that we picked a good variety of edible wild plants for them.
I used to keep rabbits as pets and reared others commercially over a period of twenty odd years.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Throwing around insults to try and undermine other people's concerns is no substitute for providing the 'hard, science based evidence' you demand from other people but can't/won't provide yourself.
I have knowingly insulted nobody. Has anyone ever heard of a dog or cat dying from eating Hostas? From the comments of other members, their cats and dogs seem to live with hostas with no ill effects. Another one for the handy "ignore" button.
LOL @Hostafan1 What, no 'hard, science based evidence' like you demand from other people but can't/won't provide yourself?
No-one said dogs or cats had died from eating hostas, but if you had done your own research and been willing to learn something, you would have quickly discovered the potential toxic effects on certain animals, as @Obelixx did.
Other people have made more sensible and balanced points about relative risks, and some animals having an instinct to avoid toxic plants.
But for many people, there are so many plants they *could* have in their garden, they might want to play safe and not actively add to any risks.
I think that's a point well worth making, and people can make their own minds up.
@Chris 11 You said "Hosta plants are toxic to dogs and cats" not maybe , not could be, not potentially , not theoretically. ARE TOXIC. You have provided no evidence to support your hysterical nonsense and then expect others to disprove you? The onus is on the person making the claim to back it up, not on others to repudiate it.
Yes, Hosta plants are toxic to dogs and cats. And horses. Three of the most-loved animals.
If you had done your own research and been willing to learn something,
you would have quickly discovered the toxic effects on certain
animals, as @Obelixx did, and posted earlier on this thread about Saponins being the known toxic substances in Hostas.
You are falsely accusing others of 'hysterical nonsense' while engaging in it yourself. You've made nasty comments about the 'handy ignore button', then not actually used it. You've tried to undermine legitimate and sincere concerns about animal welfare, not by reasonable discussion, but by dismissing them as 'paranoia'.
And where's your 'hard, science based evidence' like you demand from other people but can't/won't provide yourself?
If you have your own reasons to dismiss a scientific consensus that Saponins in Hostas are toxic to certain animals, then the onus is actually on you.
If you think you know better and your opinions are more valid than the science, let's hear it. And while you're at it, you can explain how you know more about animal welfare than the American equivalent of the RSPCA, the ASPCA, who list Hostas as toxic.
Toxicity of course is a relative, not absolute, and I accept other people's more sensible and balanced points about relative
risks, and some animals having an instinct to avoid toxic plants. In fact, Saponins and their toxicity probably evolved in certain plants to discourage animals from eating them, and they may impart a bitterness which some animals can sense and be put off eating them.
But
for many people, there are so many plants they *could* have in their
garden, they might want to play safe and not actively add to any risks.
I think that's a point well worth making. Let people make their own minds up after hearing the facts, and I suggest @Hostafan1 you do the same. And if you can't/won't engage in more sensible discussion, then use that 'handy ignore button' you mentioned.
Posts
Why would you try and undermine anyone with genuine concern about people not wanting to poison their much loved animals?
And if you want to apply your own standards to yourself, then please provide 'hard, science based evidence' that hostas are *not* toxic to certain animals like cats, dogs and horses.
Have to say, I've had cats for nearly 50 years now and dogs for the last 10 and have always grown potentially toxic plants such as foxglove, aconitum, hosta, American pokeweed and so on and so far have found that cars and people are far more dangerous to my pets than plants.
Rabbits need little bits of a wide variety of food, in order to maintain a healthy digestive system ... it is not in their nature to gorge themselves on one food. When foraging for our rabbits we made sure that we picked a good variety of edible wild plants for them.
I used to keep rabbits as pets and reared others commercially over a period of twenty odd years.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Has anyone ever heard of a dog or cat dying from eating Hostas? From the comments of other members, their cats and dogs seem to live with hostas with no ill effects.
Another one for the handy "ignore" button.
No-one said dogs or cats had died from eating hostas, but if you had done your own research and been willing to learn something, you would have quickly discovered the potential toxic effects on certain animals, as @Obelixx did.
Other people have made more sensible and balanced points about relative risks, and some animals having an instinct to avoid toxic plants.
But for many people, there are so many plants they *could* have in their garden, they might want to play safe and not actively add to any risks.
I think that's a point well worth making, and people can make their own minds up.
You said "Hosta plants are toxic to dogs and cats" not maybe , not could be, not potentially , not theoretically. ARE TOXIC.
You have provided no evidence to support your hysterical nonsense and then expect others to disprove you?
The onus is on the person making the claim to back it up, not on others to repudiate it.
Yes, Hosta plants are toxic to dogs and cats. And horses. Three of the most-loved animals.
If you had done your own research and been willing to learn something, you would have quickly discovered the toxic effects on certain animals, as @Obelixx did, and posted earlier on this thread about Saponins being the known toxic substances in Hostas.
You are falsely accusing others of 'hysterical nonsense' while engaging in it yourself.
You've made nasty comments about the 'handy ignore button', then not actually used it.
You've tried to undermine legitimate and sincere concerns about animal welfare, not by reasonable discussion, but by dismissing them as 'paranoia'.
And where's your 'hard, science based evidence' like you demand from other people but can't/won't provide yourself?
If you have your own reasons to dismiss a scientific consensus that Saponins in Hostas are toxic to certain animals, then the onus is actually on you.
If you think you know better and your opinions are more valid than the science, let's hear it. And while you're at it, you can explain how you know more about animal welfare than the American equivalent of the RSPCA, the ASPCA, who list Hostas as toxic.
Toxicity of course is a relative, not absolute, and I accept other people's more sensible and balanced points about relative risks, and some animals having an instinct to avoid toxic plants. In fact, Saponins and their toxicity probably evolved in certain plants to discourage animals from eating them, and they may impart a bitterness which some animals can sense and be put off eating them.
But for many people, there are so many plants they *could* have in their garden, they might want to play safe and not actively add to any risks.
I think that's a point well worth making. Let people make their own minds up after hearing the facts, and I suggest @Hostafan1 you do the same. And if you can't/won't engage in more sensible discussion, then use that 'handy ignore button' you mentioned.