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Elaine Mueller Tweedy
           (570) 575-1705

Gardening With Dogs

7/16/2021

12 Comments

 
No one said it was going to be easy.

The truth is, it is very difficult to keep a good garden in a yard full of dogs.  Yet, you want to have some flowers and pops of color to enjoy, right?

This week's blog circle theme is "blooms."  I thought it might be helpful to write a bit about how we, as a seven (7) dog family, manage to grow relatively good, scenic gardens.

Rule of Thumb

Besides the proverbial "green" thumb, there is a rule of thumb to follow when gardening with dogs:  KEEP TOXIC PLANTS OUT OF THE DOG YARD!  What are considered toxic plants for dog purposes?  THIS ARTICLE will give you a great rundown of plants you need to be concerned with that fall into the category of dog-toxic.
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Larkspur (delphinium) species are not only toxic to dogs, but also to humans.  So you won't find this flowering inside our fenced-in yard.  

Because I love Larkspur, it is, instead, potted in a ceramic, terracotta planter on the deck of my studio.

I am, in fact, partial to terracotta and unique pots for just this reason:  I plant stuff out of my main yard (frequented by our dogs), but within visual range of the places we use to lounge in.

Does that mean there are no plants in the dog yard?

Well, no.

There are in fact quite a number of flowering plants within the confines of the dog yard.

They are all planted in pots.

However, there is another hard and fast rule that I have learned over years of gardening with dogs, that never fails, and doesn't require we buy enormous amounts of temporary fencing, or construct DIY contraptions to keep our dogs away from the blooms.

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Use Containers and Place Them Off the Ground

All of the potted plants in our yard are placed on tables or plant stands.

I try to find fun iron or metal tables at yard sales or gardening outlets to use in the dog yard.

I also purchase cheap, dollar store solar lights, and use torch stands to hold them in various places in the yard, or place them directly into the pots with the plants.  This way, I have solar lighting for summer evenings, and the dogs can't get at them for a chew fest.

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Train Your Dogs To Leave the Containers Alone

A key ingredient to success in using these methods, is to train your dog(s) early to leave the plants and containers alone.  

We use the "leave it" command with our crew.  This is taught relatively early in their dog life here, and most of them will immediately abandon any ideas they might have had on making flowers chew toys.

​Even though our dog, Talley, is deaf, we have "leave it" and "drop it" hand signals for her, and she knows exactly what they mean.
Picture
Talley in front of the hydrangeas on our front walkway.
The hydrangea bushes are not planted in our dog yard.  They adorn both sides of our walkway leading to the front door.

Plan Ahead for Special Circumstances

Two years ago we became an official Monarch Butterfly Waystation through Monarch Watch.  As such, we grow common milkweed as part of our non-dog yard garden, but along the fence that surrounds that portion of our property.  Because the leaves can grown through the chain link, we had to come up with a way to keep the plants on their side ONLY, so our dogs could not get to the leaves.  There can be a toxicity build up from milkweed, with the least symptoms involving severe stomach and digestive distress.
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In the photo above, you can see the common milkweed growing to the left of our cone flowers.  In this area of the garden, the milkweed does not touch the dog fence.

Where it does, we have installed black netting that blends in with the fence and is hardly noticeable.  The netting keeps the leaves on their own side, as well as the daylilies, so we have no problems with ingestion by dogs.

Our setters are butterfly fanatics (butterflies are FASTER than setters, and can always get away), and we get to see the monarchs spend time laying their eggs among the plants. 
Picture
Female monarch butterfly laying eggs on common milkweed.
If we find any monarch caterpillars, we have all the equipment to house them safely until their transformation occurs, and we then send them on their way.

Flowery Places Make Good Photograph Spaces

My studio is directly adjacent to, but outside of, our fenced yard.  There are plenty of distressed outdoor furniture spots, which make great places to house some blooms (like these balloon flowers below), as well as snap a photo or two.
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These balloon flowers are one of my favorites.  They bloom all summer and are such a vibrant purple. 

When the flower bud first appears, it looks like an inflatable balloon, then pops into this lovely, star-like plant.

​Look in the pot.  Can you see where I have hidden the solar light?

​Talley is also a big fan of the fire pit bench in front of the bee garden.

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We are overrun with bee balm this year, and some of it is taller than I am, but the bees are happy.

I took a different slant with this week's theme, and I hope it might help you to think or rethink your flower gardens.  I do take quite a number of client pet photos in and among the flowers at various locations here in the Endless Mountains, as well as in my own backyard and studio gardens.

I think you are going to see a lot of lovely photos of pets among the blooms in this week's circle of professional pet photographers.  Take a peek, starting with BARKography by Kim Hollis photographing dogs in beautiful sunflowers fields near Charlotte NC.

Enjoy this beautiful summer weekend however you can! I cut some fresh blooms to brighten our table!
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12 Comments
Kim Hollis link
7/16/2021 07:48:38 am

Wow, to see your yard in person must be beautiful. As a flower lover, I love all of these.

Reply
Elaine
8/19/2021 01:48:00 am

I can tell you it is a lot of work, but I love flowers as well, and it's worth it.

Reply
Linda Perdue link
7/16/2021 01:07:54 pm

A great idea to put the flowers in pots and up off the ground. I choose a different route, kept only dog friendly in the backyard and created paths based on the way they run through the yard - seems to work! Lovely photos of your gardens with the occasional dog stopping in.

Reply
Elaine
8/19/2021 01:49:19 am

Thanks Linda!

Reply
Angela Schneider link
7/16/2021 01:15:30 pm

Oh Elaine, I just love this blog post. What a brilliant attack on the theme. I love all of your ideas for making a home garden safe for your dogs ... and that terracotta pot with the larkspur in it is just gorgeous.

Reply
Elaine
8/19/2021 01:50:50 am

Thanks Angela! I am a huge researcher of plants that withstand dog activity, and I don't want to ban flowers from the actual dog yard, so we have worked it out over the years. That pot is also one of my favorites.

Reply
Tracy Allard link
8/8/2021 01:50:30 pm

Such a great post and the dog trainer in me loves your use of training the leave it command in conjunction with setting the dog up for success by raising containers to help them make the right decision - well done!

Reply
Elaine
8/19/2021 01:52:00 am

Thanks Tracy. For the most part they really do ignore them at this point, unless, of course, there's a BEE in a flower! :)

Reply
petzplanet link
8/11/2021 09:53:51 am

Hello,
Thank you for the posts.How long does it take to train the dog to leave containers alone. I seem to be struggling to impart this training to my dogs.

Reply
Elaine
8/19/2021 01:56:32 am

It really depends on the dog and how consistent you are with the training. Everyone in your household that interacts with the dog also has to be consistent. We train "leave it" by using a treat. Here's a good blog post on training this command. https://www.rover.com/blog/teaching-your-dog-a-super-strength-leave-it-command/

Reply
Michael link
12/22/2021 02:36:28 am

Great Article! Thank you for sharing this is very informative post, and looking forward to the latest one.

Reply
Michelle link
1/6/2022 09:20:44 pm

Great Article! Thank you for sharing this is very informative post, and looking forward to the latest one.

Reply

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