Don't let allergies derail your gardening pleasure
By Lindsay Bond Totten
Scripps Howard News Service
If allergies threaten to derail your gardening pleasure this time of year, don't give up without first taking evasive action.
Easier said than done.
Physicians usually advise avoidance of allergens in addition to more aggressive therapies such as medication. Seems sensible enough--unless you're a gardener.
But telling a gardener to avoid pollen is like suggesting a swimmer avoid water.
So, horticulturist, heal thyself. And one logical way to do that is to get rid of plants with an excessive amount of wind-borne pollen.
Gardeners will be surprised--and relieved--to learn that most of the offensive allergens don't come from cultivated plants. Shrubs, flowers and ornamental trees tend to possess heavy, sticky pollen, the type that attracts insects. If not eaten by bugs, the pollen drops to the ground.
It's the grasses, weeds and molds, with huge amounts of light wind-borne pollen and spores, that set eyes to itching.
Keeping the garden well-weeded is probably as effective as anything a gardener can do to reduce asthma. One blooming ragweed plant can exact the wheezing equivalent of a whole bed of begonias.
Weed grasses are just as bad, in addition to turf grass that's not mowed frequently. When allowed to grow long and form seed heads, a large amount of pollen is released from grasses. That included crabgrass that may be invading the lawn.
Of course, if you live next to a field or a vacant lot, it's wishful thinking to hope that keeping your lawn neatly mowed and your garden thoroughly weeded will make a significant difference.
With help from horticulturists, allergy doctors have compiled a list of plants that are relatively "allergy-free." Choosing varieties from the list is bound to reduce hay fever symptoms.
Redbud, hawthorn, fringetree and dogwood are among the best small deciduous trees for allergy sufferers. Others include crabapple, golden-rain tree, dawn redwood and flowering pear.
Gardeners with allergies aren't short-changed when it comes to flowering shrubs. The list is long, and the varieties on it are among the best available for garden use: shrub dogwoods, cotoneaster, hydrangea, deutzia, rose-of-Sharon, flowering quince, bluemist shrub and butterfly bush.
Believe it or not, roses make the nonallergenic list--just don't stick your nose right into the center of open blossoms. Also plant barberry, Japanese kerria, weigela, chaste tree, viburnum, spiraea and bayberry.
Pollen from shade trees is an almost unavoidable nuisance for gardeners with hay fever. Most of the important varieties--oaks, maples, elms-- release great quantities of wind-borne pollen each spring. Cutting down your own shade trees is unlikely to help, since pollen travels hundreds, even thousands, of feet from neighboring trees. Tulip poplar is the most allergy-free of the large shade trees.
The best solution is to determine the types of pollen you're most allergic to--many people are sensitive to just one or two kinds of tree pollen-- and stay inside or increase medication during the week or two that tree is in bloom.
Large evergreens are a horticultural conundrum. Technically, pines and spruces have heavy pollen that falls close to the tree. But they have so much of it that the sheer quantity becomes a problem for allergy sufferers.
Worse than pollen for many of us--for I am among the 20 percent of all Americans with serious hay fever--are the mold spores that drift from piles of compost and mulch. Within a week or two, the wood chips delivered by our arborist send clouds of pale green spores into the air when attacked with a pitchfork.
When loading and spreading these products, I've found that wearing a dust mask helps a lot. Without it, I'd be unable to breathe. Gardeners who get itchy eyes might also consider a pair of tight-fitting goggles as well as a dust mask.
It just makes good sense to wear protective clothing like long sleeves and gloves when gardening to cut down on contact with allergens. Step into the shower when you come in, to wash the pollen out of your hair. Toss contaminated clothing into the washer.
And whenever possible, avoid using power equipment such as leaf blowers. Not only do they move weed seeds around, they disturb lots of pollen and dust that can trigger an asthma attack.
( Lindsay Bond Totten, a horticulturist, writes about gardening for Scripps Howard News Service.)
Photograph courtesy of arttoday.com
)