Not poisonous ... but WAY too close together.

They can spread 6-8 feet both ways along a fence easily, and if unpruned, even farther.

Pasted this from a post a while back, thought it might help.

It sounds like you are looking for something that won't get taller than say 4 feet and bloom nearly year long. Here are my suggestions which are easy to grow, require little maintenance if watered correctly and will take your full sun exposure.
Red Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) - red/orange flowers from late spring to fall. Requires annual pruning.
Baja Fairy Duster (Calliandra californica) - red 'puffball' type floers nearly all year. No pruning required.
Black Dalea (Dalea frutescens) - clusters of lavendar flowers in fall.
Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) - silver gray leaves, yellow daisy flowers from winter to spring.
Red Eremophila (Eremophila maculata) - one cultivar is called "Valentine" but all have red tubular flowers from late winter to spring.
Violet Silverleaf (Leucophyllum candidum) this 'Texas sage' stays about 3 feet tall with silver foliage and deep violet flowers periodically from summer to fall.
Baja Ruellia (Ruellia peninsularis) - this Ruellia is a shrub and NOT invasive like its cousin. It has purple bell shaped flowers nearly all year long.
Lavender- Spanish and French.

Here is a link to The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). They have a list of toxic and a list of non toxic plants. This has helped me greatly with my gardening as I have dogs ranging from 9 pounds to 100 pounds and a Sulcata Tortoise. If my 9 pound dog was to even it a small part of a toxic plant we would be in trouble. And, well, my tortoise eats everything!

This link is to the Toxic Plant list, on the right you will find the link to the Non Toxic Plant list.

Good Luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: ASPCA Toxic and Non Toxic Plant List

Brownthumbgirl,

Hey, I'm looking seriously at the cape honeysuckle for a fence covering vine. I live in Gilbert AZ and an wondering how well yours have done - since it's been a year now since your post.

Thanks!

I have 3 cape honeysuckles in my front yard, planted about 3ft apart, and I think that's perfect. They are very versatile that way. If I want them to look more like a hedge, I shear them across the top and let them grow into a solid row. Sometimes I prune between them and let them grow taller and they become 3 separate shrubs. They even bounced right back after the frost this past winter...much better than some of the other plants that I have.

The only concern that I can think of, and this is for kids and animals, is the amount of bees that they attract. At about 7:00am, they are covered with bees. Every orange flower will have a bee buzzing around it. So if your dog likes to stick his nose in the shrubs (I had one of those), steer clear of the cape honeysuckles.

But if you like the look of the cape honeysuckle and want to go even taller, you can add yellow bells and orange jubilees in the mix. They all go nicely together. :)

I am looking for a plant for a nw corner of porch/house on oak hammock/pineland, i.e., limited afternoon sun. It needs to be
@ 6', produce flowers, easy to medium care, sandy soil.
I had an oak hydrangea there which did poorly. Moved it to
east side of porch, with good morning sun. Doing well now.
Thank you for your suggestions.

How draught tollerant is Cape Honeysuckle? Will it survive with rain and no summer watering?

Thank you.

Angie

Angie, cape honeysuckles require regular watering.

HELP! My cape honeysuckle was transplanted in February, in the LA area (NOW in HOT San Fernando Valley), is growing like crazy and STOPPED making pretty orange flowers! Gets all day sun and we're successful gardeners in veggies/flowers, etc., so it's not us.

Thanks.

Mine doesn't bloom during the summer. It's more of a September-May or June bloomer here. I've seen them blooming year round in LA, but not in the valley. How hot is it there? Maybe it's just taking a break?