Safe Flowers for Tortoises

Yes, tortoises can eat flowers, and they should. Five of the fourteen foods rated suitable for regular feeding in our records are flowers, which puts them second only to weeds as a food group.

They are also the food group where common names cause the most trouble. “Marigold” covers two unrelated genera. “Rose of Sharon” means different plants either side of the Atlantic. Getting the botany right matters more here than anywhere else on this site.

Flowers you can feed

Dandelion flowers are covered by our dandelion record, which sits at moderation for the whole plant. The flowers are not a separate case from the leaves.

Why our records mark daisies as avoid

This is where we differ from a lot of published advice. Common daisies contain saponins and tannins, and our records take the cautious position that they should not be deliberately fed.

Plenty of sources list daisies as acceptable. We are not claiming they are dangerous, and a tortoise that grazes a few off a lawn is not in trouble. We simply see no reason to add them deliberately when better options grow in the same lawn.

Flowers and garden plants to avoid

Anything containing cardiac glycosides, meaning foxglove, oleander and lily of the valley, should be treated as an emergency if eaten. Contact a reptile-experienced vet immediately rather than waiting to see what happens.

Do not rely on the tortoise to know better. The Tortoise Trust is explicit that reptiles cannot necessarily discern dangerous plant toxins in unfamiliar plants, and cites tortoises dying after eating daffodils. In a garden enclosure the animal has fewer options than it would in the wild, which makes the assumption worse rather than better.

Common-name traps

The single most useful section on this page.

• Marigold. Calendula officinalis, pot marigold, is the one our records rate as regular. French and African marigolds are Tagetes, a different genus entirely. The seed packet will tell you which you bought.
• Christmas rose is Helleborus niger, a hellebore, and toxic. It is not a rose.
• Rose of Sharon means Hypericum calycinum in British gardens and Hibiscus syriacus in American ones. If you are reading a US care sheet, it is not describing the plant in your border.
• Plantain. The weed is Plantago, excellent forage. The fruit is a starchy banana relative. Two entirely different foods.
• Daisy. Loosely applied to dozens of composites. Bellis perennis is the lawn daisy our record covers. Oxeye daisy, Michaelmas daisy and gerbera are different plants.
• Lily. Almost nothing sold as a lily is safe, and several are severely toxic. Day lily, calla lily, peace lily and lily of the valley are all different plants and none belongs in an enclosure.

The rule underneath all of this: check the botanical name, not the label on the pot.

Identification and pesticide safety

Flowers carry a bigger chemical risk than weeds, because most of them arrive from a shop rather than a hedgerow.

• Garden centre plants are treated as standard. Systemic pesticides are taken up into the tissue and cannot be washed off. Grow the plant on for several weeks and harvest only the new growth.
• Florist flowers are worse. Roses in particular are heavily treated. Our rose record flags this specifically. Never feed a bought bouquet.
• Supermarket edible flowers are grown for garnish, not for tortoises, and the same pesticide question applies.
• Grow your own where you can. It is the only way to be certain, and most of the flowers on the safe list establish easily. See grow your own tortoise food.
• Rinse everything, including flowers from your own garden.

If you cannot identify a flower with confidence, do not feed it. Cross-check against The Tortoise Table’s plant database when you meet something new.

Species notes

Flower ratings hold across all three species groups. Hibiscus, viola, violet, calendula and campanula are rated regular for Mediterranean, grazing and tropical forest tortoises alike, which makes them one of the few genuinely universal food groups.

Two small differences worth knowing:

• Squash-family flowers are useful for every species, and rate better than the fruit they come from. If you grow courgettes, feed the flowers.
• Grazing species benefit from flowers as a supplement to grass rather than as a substitute. A Sulcata or leopard tortoise still needs hay to do the heavy lifting.

How to add flowers to a varied diet

• Treat them as food, not decoration. Five are rated for regular use, so they can appear most days in season.
• Mix, do not substitute. Flowers alongside weeds and leaves, rather than a bowl of petals.
• Plant the enclosure. Hibiscus, viola, calendula and campanula in a planted pen let the tortoise select for itself, which is closer to natural browsing than anything you can arrange in a dish.
• Use them for interest. Flowers are the item most likely to tempt a reluctant feeder, which is useful when transitioning an animal off a poor diet.
• Expect seasonality. Flowers are a spring and summer food in Britain. Dried flowers fill part of the gap in winter, as winter feeding explains.

To check a flower not listed here, the tortoise food checker holds 105 records with verdicts by species group. Weeds are covered in best weeds for tortoises, and the full banded list is in the tortoise food chart.

Ratings follow our own food records, built from the Tortoise Trust, the British Chelonia Group, The Tortoise Table plant database and published veterinary sources, and checked as described in our sources and review policy. Where our position differs from common advice, as with daisies, we say so. This is husbandry information rather than clinical advice. See our veterinary disclaimer.

Last reviewed: September 2026.