The winner: Petunia, 92/100. Runner-up: Impatiens at 84.
Most pet-safe lists check one species and hope. Here a flower enters only if ASPCA clears it for cats AND dogs: the shortlist is then ranked as a garden plant, not as a warning label.
The picks
The flowers that won
The top score, plus the qualifier that asks least of you.
5 rules, 100 points, no opinions. Every line reads one field of the table.
Beauty season it gives back30 pointseight or more months 30; six to seven 26; four to five 23; three 15; two 8; one 3; no bloom data 8 Read from: the months it is in bloom.
Care while it grows25 pointslow upkeep 25; middling 14; demanding 4; sources disagree, we average the range; no rating 12 Read from: how much upkeep extension guides report.
Lives where the pets live15 pointslives indoors year-round 15; temporary indoor bloom 11; garden and yard plant 8 Read from: indoor viability.
Garden toughness15 pointsshrugs off both drought and poor soil 15; drought only 11; poor soil only 7; neither documented 3; no data 6 Read from: stress tolerances.
Palette to choose from15 pointsfive or more documented colors 15; three to four 11; two 6; single color 3; no data 6 Read from: flower color.
Not ranked here: never evaluated non-toxic for cats; never evaluated non-toxic for dogs.
The full method ↗
The leaderboard
The top ten
The 10 highest of 21 that qualified. Tap any score to open the lines behind it.
Lives where the pets live8 / 15no published rating
Garden toughness11 / 15a only: air pollution, drought
Palette to choose from6 / 152 documented
Considered, not chosen
Not qualifying is a verdict too: the table simply says this question is not theirs.
never evaluated non-toxic for cats (statusTulips, Peonies, Hydrangea macrophylla and 61 more
The winner's badge
Generated by the ranking above, and re-scored whenever the table changes.
Petunia
The badge is generated by this ranking, not awarded by hand. When the
table changes, it re-scores itself.
How we rank
We keep one table of 85 flowers,
with 25 documented facts each, drawn from university and extension sources. Every ranking is
a published formula worth 100 points; tap any score and it unfolds into the lines that made
it. A flower that does not fit the question is not scored lower: it is excluded, and the reason is
shown. When the table changes, every score and stamp updates itself.
The full method ↗
