Terms of use
Last updated 6 September 2026
By using House & Hedge you accept what follows. It is short, because there is not much to agree to: there is no account, no payment and nothing of yours held on our side.
1. What the journal is
A free reference and a set of tools for looking after plants. The entries describe how plants behave in ordinary homes and gardens. The scheduler works out a day from figures in an entry, the season, the light where the plant stands and the size of its pot.
2. It is general guidance, not advice for your plant
Every figure here is a starting point for a typical plant in a typical room. Yours is in a particular house, in a particular climate, in a particular pot, next to a particular radiator. The soil tells you more than any calendar can, which is why the log shows its reasoning and lets you overrule it. Nothing in the journal is professional horticultural advice, and following it is your own decision.
3. Pet safety disclaimer, and what safe means here
Pet safety lines come from the ASPCA's list of plants toxic and non toxic to cats, dogs and horses. Safe means that the species was found on the non toxic side of that list. It does not mean the plant is food, and it does not mean an animal that eats a quantity of it will be well. Unknown means we have not been able to check that species, not that it is fine.
This is not veterinary advice. If an animal has eaten a plant, telephone a vet, take a piece of the plant with you, and do not wait to see what happens. Nothing on this site should delay that call. In South Africa the Poison Information Helpline is 0861 555 777; in the US the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center is (888) 426-4435.
4. Nothing here is medical advice
Some plants in the journal are edible and some are used in cooking. That is a note about the plant, not a recommendation for your health. No plant on this site cures, treats or prevents anything, and we make no claim that it does.
5. Seasons and sowing dates
Sowing and harvest months are given for a hemisphere, which is a broad thing. Frost dates, altitude, a coastal wind or a warm wall move them by weeks. Treat them as the shape of the year rather than a date to plant on, and check a local frost date before you sow anything tender.
6. Your list is yours
What you put into the journal stays in your browser. You own it, you can carry it away as a file or a link at any time, and you can delete it in one press. We cannot read it, recover it or restore it for you.
7. Our writing
The entries, the explanations and the design of the journal are ours. Read them, print them, and quote a paragraph with a link back. Do not republish the journal wholesale, and do not feed it into a product that resells it as its own. Most of the botanical plates are public domain or CC0. Some are under Creative Commons licences; those carry the licence beside the credit on the entry, and the credit and source appear on every plate. If you email us a correction or a request, you let us use it on the site without payment or credit. Links to other sites are run by someone else; we do not check them regularly and are not responsible for what they say or do.
8. Availability
The journal is offered as it is. Pages change, entries are corrected, and features come and go. We do not promise the site will be available at any particular moment, and we may change or withdraw parts of it.
9. No warranty, and what we are responsible for
The site is provided without warranties of any kind, to the extent the law where you live allows that. We are not liable for a plant that dies, a crop that fails, or a decision taken on the strength of something read here. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, and if a court finds part of this unenforceable the rest still stands.
10. Governing law
These terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa, and the courts of South Africa have non-exclusive jurisdiction. If you live elsewhere, any consumer protection that the law of your country gives you and that cannot be excluded still applies.