|
- One of the gardeners’ cruelest afflictions in this area has to be seasonal hayfever
and it’s the wind pollinating plants that are the biggest villains:
Cupressus, Pines,
including Callitris the "Native Pine", Silver Birch, Ash, Plane, Elm, Privet,
most Wattles, dryland Eucalypts, Melaleucas, Callistemon, Sheoaks and of course
"Salvation Jane".
- Then there are the grasses, Couch Grass if left for two weeks without cutting will
flower in summer, Rye Grass, Wild Oats and Barley Grass are thankfully past their seasonal
worst now. Now even if you don’t plant these, their pollen is so light it can be
carried on the wind for hundreds of kilometres, so there’s not much you can do about
these, other than gobble up the TelfastŪ.
- There are of course a few lawn substitutes such as the natives Dichondra or Lippia and
the tiny yellow daisy, Chamomile, that all make reasonable lawns that only need to be mown
infrequently and have little or no pollen, so you can reduce the immediate pollen count
around your front door a bit.
- A common allergy for gardeners is from fungal spores, present in mulches and composts.
The effects can be greatly reduced by watering down lucerne and pea straw before spreading
it, or simply getting someone else to spread it for you.
- If you are particularly troubled by hayfever, asthma or allergies, you must get [Dr]
Mark Ragg’s book "The Low Allergy Garden", published Hodder & Stoughton
Rydalmere NSW 1996, I’ve found it very helpful, as a sufferer myself.
- And remember Judith Wright’s poem about her neighbour’s wattle tree that he
eventually cut down fearing it caused his hayfever, that left poor old Mr-Whatever-
his-name was, with hayfever…"nothing will cure it". It’s certainly not
always the obvious anyhow.
|
