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Question & Answer

We are discussing Gardening, Growing and Green Thumbs!
With Brian Walters, Diana O'Brien and Pauline Cornish

Question:
Several members of my family suffer from allergies. How do I know which plants if any in my own garden might be responsible?

Answer:
Diana - You won’t always know, as much will depend upon the effect on individuals - however, there some simple rules, which might help.

Bird or insect pollinated plants are less likely to offend than those that have pollen moved about by the wind – many of the flowering grasses for instance. Introduced lawn grasses such as rye could be replaced by Australian natives like Kangaroo grass (Themeda Australis), which incidentally would only need mowing perhaps twice a year.

Try to avoid digging around in compost heaps where mould spores could be a problem and avoid plants like daisies, marigolds and conifers as well as ash, birch, oaks, olives, elm and plane trees.

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