Toxic & Safe Plants & Products

Toxic Products:
  • Teflon (non-stick cookware). This is toxic only if forgotten in oven or on stove (or put on very high heat), which causes it to overheat and release toxins. Non-stick oven liners will overheat very easily and kill all sizes of birds within minutes. Do not use them.
  • Chemical air fresheners, some perfume, scented plug-ins, wax melts, candles. Choose natural scents with no chemicals. Even some essential oils have been reported to be harmful (tea tree), while others are beneficial. 
  • Cigar and Cigarette smoke- toxic to all living things.


Toxic Plants:
  • Avocado
  • Black Locust
  • Blue Green Algae
  • Calla Lily
  • Coffee Beans
  • Diffenbachia
  • Eggplant
  • Elephant's Ear
  • Ergot
  • Foxglove
  • Jerusalem Cherry
  • Jimsonweed
  • Lily of the Valley
  • Milkweed
  • Mistletoe
  • Nightshade
  • Oak
  • Oleander
  • Philodendron
  • Poinsettia
  • Pokeweed
  • Potatoes (spuds are okay, if not green)
  • Rhododendron and Azaleas
  • Tobacco
  • Tomatoes (fruit is okay)
  • Virginia Creeper
  • Yew


Reportedly Safe Plants:
  • African violet
  • American bittersweet
  • Aloe
  • Autumn olive
  • Areca palm
  • Bamboo (Lucky Bamboo is not bamboo, it is in the Lily family and is toxic!)
  • Australian laurel
  • Barberry
  • Bamboo palm
  • Bayberry
  • Begonias
  • American or European Beech
  • Bird's nest fern
  • Bladdernut
  • Boston fern
  • Blueberry
  • Bottle brush fern
  • Comfrey
  • Canary Island palm
  • Coralberry
  • Christmas cactus
  • Cotoneaster firethorn
  • Coffee tree
  • Crabapple
  • Corn plant
  • Dogwood
  • Creeping fig
  • Common, European or Red Elderberry
  • Danish ivy
  • Balsam, Douglas, Subalpine or White Fir
  • Devil's ivy
  • Dracanae
  • Grape vine
  • Dragon tree
  • Huckleberry
  • European fan palm
  • Marigold
  • Fiddle leaf fig
  • Nasturtium
  • Fig tree
  • Ponderosa, Spruce, Virginia, or White Pine
  • Flame nettle
  • Pyracantha
  • Hawaiian scheffler
  • Raspberry
  • Indian laurel
  • Rose
  • Jade plant
  • Snowberry
  • Kangaroo vine
  • Black, Norway, Red, or White Spruce
  • Lace fern
  • Viburnum
  • Lady palm
  • Wax plant
  • Maidenhair fern
  • White poplar
  • Magnolia tree
  • Ming fern
  • Willow
  • Mother fern 
  • Mother-in-law's tongue 
  • Norfolk pine 
  • Paradise palm 
  • Parlor palm 
  • Pepperomia 
  • Prayer plant 
  • Purple passion 
  • Rubber tree 
  • Spider plant 
  • Umbrella tree 

 Reportedly Safe Woods (if free from pesticide and other chemical treatments):
  • Wandering Jew
  • Acacia
  • Almond
  • Apple 
  • Arbutus
  • Ash
  • Aspen
  • Bamboo (not lucky bamboo; which is not true bamboo)
  • Beech
  • Birch
  • Citrus
  • Cork
  • Oak
  • Cottonwood
  • Crab apple
  • Dogwood
  • Elm
  • Fig
  • Fir
  • Fruitless Mulberry
  • Ginkgo
  • Grape Vines
  • Grape Palm
  • Guava
  • Hackberry
  • Hazelnut
  • Hibiscus
  • Hickory
  • Ironwood
  • Larch
  • Lilac
  • Liquidamber
  • Madrona
  • Magnolia
  • Manzanita
  • Maple
  • Mediterranean Laurel
  • Mesquite
  • Mimosa
  • Mulberry
  • Norfolk Island Pine
  • Oak
  • Palm
  • Papaya
  • Pear
  • Pecan
  • Pine
  • Poplar
  • Ribbonwood
  • Rose
  • Sassafras
  • Spruce
  • Sweet Gum
  • Sycamore
  • Thurlow
  • Tree Fern
  • Umbrella Tree
  • Vine Maple
  • Walnut
  • Willow