Illinois Spring Warning: These Flowers Can Be Deadly To Your Dog

Here we are in late March of 2025, and even though it's officially spring, the weather has been staying on the winter-side of things recently. That's won't last forever (closer to the next couple of weeks, max), and soon all sorts of different flowers will start sprouting across the state of Illinois.

As if you didn't have enough things to worry about (you could freak yourself out worrying about the Illinois springtime bugs and other creepy crawlies that will soon be on the scene after making it through the winter), now we move onto something that pet owners should be aware of with the coming of spring.

Say what you will about winters in Northern Illinois (at least biting and stinging insects along with toxic plants and flowers take a few months off during the frigid weather), but now that we're closing out the cold, it's time to make sure that Illinois' dog owners are aware of the dangerous-to-dogs plants and flowers that will soon be blooming.

Keep In Mind That You Don't Need To Be Concerned, Worried, Or Freaked Out By Every Flower That Blooms In Illinois, But There Definitely Are Some To Watch Out For

Our household consists of 5 people, 2 dogs, and one cat. We learned years ago (before the dogs came along) that some plants and flowers are also dangerous to cats, so instead of trying to memorize each and every botanical that could make our cat sick, we just stopped having plants and flowers, other than silk ones, inside the house.

Problem solved.

With the dogs, it's a different story since they go outside all the time. We have all sorts of plants and flowers outside, so we've had to take stock of them and make sure we don't have the dangerous ones around the yard for them to get into.

Before we get to the dangerous flowers and plants, here are some safe flowers for your dog to be around:

• Roses (although the dog can get stuck by the rose's thorns)
• Sunflowers
• Orchids
• Marigolds
• Snapdragons
• Petunias

With Easter Coming Up, There's A Pretty Good Chance You Might Have Some Tulips Around, So Let's Take A Look At Them And Some Other Plants To Avoid Having Around Dogs

Tulips come in a variety of beautiful colors, and they give off a real springtime vibe. However, tulips feature prominently on the list of dangerous and deadly flowers for dogs. The tulip bulb is the most toxic part of the plant to dogs, but any part of the bloom can be harmful.

Daffodils Once again, another beautiful plant that's very toxic to dogs. Symptoms of daffodil poisoning include vomiting, diarrhea, excessive drooling, abdominal pain, and even cardiac arrhythmias.

Lillies are lovely, but they are extremely toxic to both dogs and cats. Every single part of the plant should be avoided. Ingestion of them can cause vomiting, irregular heartbeat, reduced blood pressure, confusion and disorientation. In severe cases, it can even lead to convulsions, coma, and death.

Daisies might not be as dangerous as some of the others we've listed, but if your dog consumes a large amount of them there's a danger of vomiting, drooling, and convulsion.

Hyacinths are part of the lily family that contains certain types of alkaloids that cause intense vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and tremors if eaten by your dog.

Hydrangeas should be avoided by dogs for many of the same reasons listed above, like vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy.