Native Plants

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Sunday - June 09, 2013

From: Madison, WI
Region: Midwest
Topic: Poisonous Plants, Vines
Title: Vines non-poisonous to dogs from Madison WI
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Are there any vines or crawlers that are non poisonous to dogs? Everything I am finding is poisonous, I want to plant some vines up a fence on their kennel run.

ANSWER:

We will first go to our Native Plant Database, scroll down the page to the Combination Search, and select Wisconsin for State and "vines" for Habit. Since we do not know what the sunlight is where you wish to plant them or what soils you have, we will just check the USDA Plant Profile on each vine we select to make sure it will grow in the area of Dane County, which should ensure that the soils, climate and rainfall are appropriate for that plant. You will need to follow each plant link to our webpage on that plant to check the growing conditions, light requirements, etc.

Vines for Wisconsin:

Campsis radicans (Trumpet creeper)

Clematis occidentalis var. occidentalis (Purple clematis)

Vitis riparia (Riverbank grape)

Polygonum scandens (Climbing false buckwheat)

This is not very many, but all we could find for southern Wisconsin. If you have difficulty finding the plants you want, go to our National Suppliers Directory, put your town and state or just your zipcode in the "Enter Search Location" box and click on GO. You will get a list of native plant nurseries, seed companies and consultants in your general area. All will have contact information so you can check their stock before you go.

None of the vines we selected had any indication on our webpage that they were poisonous, but you should still search the below databases, using the scientific name for each plant, such as Vitis riparia.

Here are several plant databases on toxic plants, incuding one for dogs:

Toxic and Non-Toxic Plant List – Dogs

University of Pennsylvania Poisonous Plants

Poisonous Plants of North Carolina

Cornell University Plants Poisonous to Livestock

Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System

This doesn't necessarily mean that it wouldn't have a detrimental effect on your dog if he/she ate a large quantity of the plant; however, since it doesn't occur on any of the toxic plant databases, it isn't likely to be a serious reaction.

We would suggest that you also check with your veterinarian to make sure some locally-grown plant has not shown poisonous characteristics.

From the Image Gallery

Trumpet creeper
Campsis radicans

Western blue virginsbower
Clematis occidentalis var. occidentalis

Swamp lousewort
Pedicularis lanceolata

Climbing false buckwheat
Polygonum scandens