These plants that are safe for cats are worth growing to create a sensory experience for your feline friend, but they’re also beautiful and impactful from the gardener’s point of view. From easy-to-grow flowers like sunflowers to perennial shrubs and herbaceous plants, there’s a good variety of plants to choose from if you are concerned for your cat’s safety when spending time outdoors.
Avoiding plants that are toxic to cats is essential to prevent stomach upsets and visits to the vet, but enhancing your cat’s outdoor time with plants they like sniffing and/or nibbling on is even better. Sit back, relax, and enjoy backyard time spent in the company of your pet.
Catnip
Catnip is our number one recommendation because this plant is not just safe for cats but it is beloved by them as a recreational drug of sorts. Catnips emit a scent that elicits euphoria among cats, which causes them to be hyperactive around the plant. Don’t worry about your garden getting ruined as this hyperactivity among cats is typically just harmless rolling around, flipping, and rubbing. Catnip also happens to be a natural mosquito repellent plant.
Catnips emit a scent that elicits euphoria among cats, which causes them to be hyperactive around the plant, it's like a drug but non-harmful.
Blue Mist
Blue mist, or Bluebeard, or Caryopteris, is a deciduous sub-shrub, which is to say that it’s a plant with woody stems that partially die back over winter. It has unusual-looking fluffy blue flowers that make a beautiful statement in your planting scheme. Blue mist is also completely safe for cats. It will give your feline friends a lot of shelter and privacy to do their business.
Blue Mist features extra bold blue flowers that will add interest to your garden and give your felines a shelter.
Sunflowers
Growing sunflowers is one of the best options for beginner gardeners – they are very easy to grow from seed and make a real statement next to a fence or garden wall. What’s even better is that all parts of this plant are safe for cats. The massive flowers will provide shade to your cats and something for them to play with. Your cats can also climb on the plant and observe the surroundings.
With bright blooms that go all summer, sunflowers are heat-tolerant, resistant to pests, and attractive to pollinators. Harvest the seeds in late summer and fall for a healthy snack or for the birds!.
Asters
Asters are a valuable addition to any backyard scheme, great in borders or along a garden path. They come back every year if planted in a sunny spot and will do fine even in part-shade, but their best feature is probably the fact that they provide color when most other things have finished blooming, often well into October. Asters are safe for cats and wildlife.
Asters are gorgeous bright blooms that will bring much color to your garden and are absolutely wildlife and cat-safe.
Rosemary
Not all cats like the scent of rosemary, but they’ll at least have a sniff, and those that are interested and taste the plant won’t be harmed in any way. In fact, rosemary can even be beneficial for cats struggling with digestive issues. If your cat has had a stomach issue and is nibbling on rosemary, it’s a good sign as it’s likely they are instinctively seeking out a medicinal plant. Rosemary is also one of the best drought-tolerant plants, so if you live in a dry area and have a cat, it’s definitely one to consider.
Rosemary is a fragrant herb that grows as a perennial, rounded, evergreen shrub. Clusters of small, light blue to white flowers appear typically in the late spring to early summer.
Cosmos
Cosmos is a pretty, bright annual that comes in attractive shades of pink and red, as well as in white. Cats are unlikely to nibble on it as it’s not very fragrant, but they won’t come to harm if they do. Best planted in a garden border where your cat will likely walk around the flowers rather than step on them.
Plant Cosmos flowers as a garden bed border, so your cats will go around them. If your cats nibble on them, they won't be harmed.
Valerian
Valerian, much like catnip, induces euphoric hyperactivity in cats which interestingly, is the opposite effect from the one this plant has on humans. Valerian is somewhat unfairly neglected as a garden plant, but its bright pink blooms are very pretty. Valerian also makes a great addition to a wildlife garden, beloved by pollinating moths and butterflies.
If you’re looking for a deer-resistant perennial with a graceful form that is attractive to bees and butterflies, Valerian checks those boxes.
Violet
The common or dog violet is easily the most low-maintenance plant you’ll ever grow. Once established, this tough little plant with a sweet, powdery scent will keep going for years, growing in even poor soil or out of a garden wall. It’s also one of the best shade plants and makes for perfect ground cover under trees and shrubs. Completely safe around cats, it tends to please them with its fragrance.
Violet flowers are an important early-season source of nectar for bees and other insects. They are also edible and can be candied to use for cake decoration or used fresh to scatter on salads.
Zinnias
If you want to start a cut flower garden, zinnias should be at the top of your list of flowers to plant. Easy-care annuals, they produce showy, bright flowers that make great accents in bouquets. Safe for cats even if nibbled on.
Zinnias create a massive burst of color in your garden from summer through the first hard frost of fall. Luckily, zinnias are deer-resistant, so they might help keep nearby flowers from being eaten.
Jasmine
True jasmine, or Jasminum officinale, is completely safe for cats and will add a gorgeous, heady fragrance to your yard during the summer. True jasmine is not to be confused with night jasmine, which is actually a different plant species (Cestrum nocturnum) and is toxic to cats.
All jasmines have small star-shaped flowers with a distinctive sweet fragrance. Jasmines can be trained up a trellis or tensioned wires fixed vertically or horizontally, or both.
Plants That Are Safe For Cats
Fortunately, many plants are completely safe for your cat and will make a great addition to your garden: stocks, roses, freesias, catmint, calendula, nasturtiums, snapdragons.
Freesias have exotic-looking blooms, which are loved for their strong spicy-sweet fragrance. They're immensely popular as a cut flower.
Calendula is often planted as a companion plant around tomatoes and potatoes to help deter insect pests but it won't do any harm to cats.
Nasturtium is a cheerful flower that does it all! This annual adds a pop of color to the garden, fights insect pests, and is even edible. These lovely plants, with their unique greenery and vibrant flowers, grow well in containers or as ground cover around vegetable gardens.
Snapdragons are cheerful annual plants, guaranteed to brighten up borders and containers. They are easy-to-grow, old-fashioned cottage garden plants, beloved by wildlife. They come in a range of different colours and heights, and therefore can be grown in a variety of situations.
What Shrubs Are Cat-Friendly?
Bamboo, blue mist, bottlebrush, olive, foxtail, and crape myrtle are all considered to be cat safe. Rose bushes are not toxic but they can be a problem because of the thorns. Avoid any plants with thorns because they will cause injury to your cat.
Bamboo is a fast-growing shrub that will give a modern feel to your space being safe for your cats.
Bottlebrush is a spectacular plant with much color that will attract hummingbirds and butterflies and won't do any harm to cats.
Crape myrtles are listed as a safe plant for dogs, cats, and horses and they will add a lot of color to your garden. Besides, they are deer-proof.
Foxtail ferns are used in perennial gardens as borders alongside blooming flowers. You can also place them in outdoor containers along walkways or at home entrances.