Hi Amy,

Spider plants are some of the best purifiers of air and so are many Dracaenas. I know the China Doll plant, not sure how to spell the actual name, tolerates cigarette smoke well. It does need some sunlight. The snake plant might do well for you. Good luck!

Jen

Jen, thanks

From what I've read here, it seems that cats love to eat spider plants and will go to great lengths to get at them. That aside, I'm not all that fond of them. I'm looking into your other suggestions. Will those actually consume toxins, or just tolerate them?
Amy

Hopefully, you'll find this link helpful. http://www.zone10.com/tech/NASA/Fyh.htm

Maybe someone will come along to tell you what to do to cat-proof your plant arrangements!

GH

Thank you GH, that is helpful. I may just put bird netting accross most of the plants, and let my aging cat fertilize one of them.
Amy

Trust me..... all plants (at least the ones I grow) do well in a smoky environment. We both smoke and we have 3 roomies, (2 are temp.)who all smoke. I try to always have a window open but it's getting too cold for that much now:-(

It's a bit much for me but the plants don't seem to mind at all!

Diane

Don't think they make our air any cleaner..... but who knows? Couldn't hurt!

I'm with Diane on this, I'm a smoker also & all the plants do just fine, round 200 of them (succulents, Hoyas & some 'houseplanty' types). I too always keep the windows open an inch or 2 even in winter & the plants do great.

I've heard Sansevierias (Snake plants) are particularly good at cleaning the air (many plants are). As to Spider plants, if you can put them up high, maybe the cats wouldn't bother. There's also a spray called Bitter Apple to keep kitties from plants. Also, some folks say you can put bits of citrus peel in the pots, creatures don't like that.

I'd guess if you let a cat 'fertilize' a plant, you might as well say 'bye-bye' to the plant, that's not likely to go well.

If you search round here, you can probably find other threads discussing aides in keeping cats away from plants.

My! my apartment Is always smokey, I always worried a bout my plants. I too, often open a window, but in the winter I often didn't. I wasn't sure which was worse for my plants - the smoke, or the cold air! I guess I needn't worry so much.
As for the kitties, my sister sprinkles cayenne pepper on the soil edges of her snake plant and spider plant, it seemed to do the trick, similar to the bitter spray. Though i would be careful to not let the pepper directly toutch the plants. I'm not sure how they'd like that.