My lawn is patchy and does a poor job of weed suppression, so I'd love to replace it with something native like yarrow. I've seen conflicting reports of yarrow's danger to dogs – while most sources agree it's toxic to them if ingested, they tend to disagree on the danger they pose. Many vet websites say yarrow should be kept away from dogs, going as far as to say it should be fenced if it's in reach of your dog. Other articles report no problems with yarrow lawns. Yarrow's biggest advocate seems to be ChatGPT, which insists yarrow is rarely a problem, causing mild poisoning at worst, and being generally avoided by dogs due to its bitter taste.
So, what should I do? It would be very doable to seed some yarrow into the lawn to fill gaps, but I don't want to have to put a lot of work into getting it back out if it does cause issues with my dog.
by TerpleDerp2600
5 Comments
This may be worth asking in a veterinary subreddit
You can call the pet poison hotline. Most vets do for lesser known ingested substances.
ASPCA Poison Control Phone Number: (888) 426-4435
I don’t think I’d trust social media or chatGPT with this.
Just about every plant is poisonous to dogs. I have yarrow. I also have angel trumpets and my heeler/border Collie mix that likes to chew on everything has never messed with them. Out last heeler also never messed with any of my plants
I think the real answer here is really it depends on your dogs.
In 40 years I’ve never had a pet (out of ~15 dogs and a few cats, and now a bunch of chickens) that would consume plants in a way that would make me concerned about the toxicity of the plants in my yard. It’s never really something ive had to put any thought into the safety of my yard plants for people, pets, or livestock. Including now where I do have lots of yarrow.
That said, I fully recognize some people do seem to have pets that appear hellbent on poisoning themselves. So our lived experiences are going to be very different.
I really just avoid plants that have a high chance for contact dermatitis since my dogs do like to roam and explore the entire yard.
My in laws have had a trimmed yarrow lawn for decades and many, many dogs. Never an issue.