Aesthetically-Pleasing Plants Your Cat Can Eat (But Probably Won’t)
When you and Whiskers are both plant connoisseurs, a life of compromise is ahead of you. And I mean you, you. The human. The cat’s gonna do what the cat’s gonna do. That’s why we love them so much.
Yes, you should offer cat grass. I do, and my cat eats it. Yet like a sailor to a siren, he’s ever drawn to the tender, toothsome coils of my Boston Fern.
After a few years of indoor gardening with a plant-loving feline, I’ve landed on three plant types that most cats seem to find utterly unattractive: Peperomia, Calathea and Pilea. I say most cats, because I don’t know your cat. Maybe she has unusual tastes.*
*It’s always a good idea to keep non-sanctioned greens out of bite’s reach, even if the plants are non-toxic.
Aside from being unappetizing to cats, all three of these plants types are:
— Non-toxic to cats, per ASPCA.
— Gorgeous.
— Abundant in subspecies (in other words, you can have ten pots of the same plant genus and each one may look like a totally different plant).
Peperomias
Also known as Radiator Plants, Peperomias are a genus of compact shrubs with a head-spinning variety of species — all featuring unique foliage to please your plant-loving palate and turn off your cat’s. Most have tough, fibrous leaves and stems. My cat tried to cut a tooth on a Peperomia obtusifolia early in their acquaintance, then decided to return to his oat grass.
Some varieties, like the Peperomia ferreyrae (pictured below), have frond-like leaves, but even those are too fleshy for most felines, who’d much rather munch on the delicate shoots of a Spider Plant.
Peperomias also get points for being the perfect beginner plant: they don’t like being watered too often and aren’t too picky about soil. In fact, overwatering a Peperomia is probably the worst thing you can do. Because they naturally thrive in the tropics — mostly South America — Peperomias are partial to humid air and indirect moderate to bright light. You can mist them with a spray bottle if you live in a drier climate, but otherwise they really do enjoy being left alone.
Calatheas
Calatheas are beautiful. Plain and simple. And like Peperomias, the variety of species is endless, which means there’s a Calathea out there for any setting.
They’re sometimes referred to as Prayer Plants because they fold up their leaves in low light and gently unfurl them when it gets brighter…thus looking like hands at prayer? I never did manage to square the image with the name in my head, but perhaps I’m bad at visualizing. Either way, Calatheas are indeed magically sentient and respond to shifts in light by closing and opening their leaves.
Their foliage will have your eyes following its intricate patterns, but cats don’t seem to care for Calatheas at all. Most species have incredibly tough stems and flat, synthetic-like leaves which aren’t likely to tempt your bewhiskered friend. Like with the Peperomia, my cat tried to bite off a leaf once, but couldn’t even get his teeth all the way through. He didn’t bother coming back and the leaf is still going strong.
As far as plant care goes, Calatheas are the opposite of easy-going Peperomias. It may take a few weeks to get the watering schedule right, and they’re definitely not the type of plant you can leave without care for more than a week. Hailing from the Amazon, they’re kinda the Goldilocks of popular houseplants. You need to get the humidity just right: too little and your Calathea’s leaves will brown, too much and the roots may rot.
If you’re a more experienced plant enthusiast, they’re well worth the effort. Frequent travelers and forgetful plant parents may want to stick with the hardier Peperomias and the next plant genus not on the cat’s menu — Pileas.
Pileas
Pileas may look and feel like Peperomias (talking about the Pilea peperomioides specifically here) but are a completely different genus, originally found in the Himalayan foothills. However, their care preferences are similar: indirect moderate to bright light and well-drained soil. Pileas don’t like to sit in water, so go easy with the watering can!
Aside from being lovely and somewhat low-maintenance, Pileas are wonderfully unappealing to Whiskers because of their leaf structure. A few species, like the Pilea glauca, have trailing stems which may tempt an adventurous feline, but most Pileas have squelchy, rubbery leaves that are unpleasant to bite and hard to chew. Fortunately, their lack of culinary appeal to cats helps them stay beautiful and grace your presence in an un-harrassed state.
As cat parents we may never experience the stately calm of the Peace Lily or the buoyant energy of Dracaena in our homes. But between these three plants and a pot of cat grass, you could be well on your way to a cat-proof indoor garden.
