Gardens have always been considered places of peace and beauty. And gardening is a pastime with thousands of years of history. If you’re one of the millions of people who have pollen allergies, however, an afternoon tending to lawns or pruning shrubs can seem anything but peaceful. Instead of an invigorating breath of fresh air, you’re opening yourself to symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, itchy eyes, and upper respiratory congestion.

Does having allergies mean you should avoid the pleasures of gardening? Not at all. But unlike your nonallergic friends and neighbors, you’ll have to make adjustments. The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas offers this help for creating a garden environment that won’t aggravate allergies.

Landscaping with allergies in mind

If you’re just starting out with a garden, take your allergies into consideration as you determine what to plant:

• Choose flowers that release the least amounts of pollen into the air. It’s one of nature’s little rewards that some of the brightest and most beautiful flowers — including roses, tulips, and daffodils — are the most allergy friendly. The pollens produced by these flowers are heavier and must be transferred by insects, instead of on the wind.
• Trees, grasses, and weeds whose pollen is windborne cause the most problems. These include pollinating grasses like timothy, bermuda, and orchard grass. With trees, oak, olive, elm, birch, ash, hickory, sycamore, maple, and walnut send the most pollen into the air. For weeds, ragweed is the biggest allergy offender.
• Don’t plant highly perfumed plants and flowers in your garden — or at the very least, plant them at a distance from windows. If you’re already having an allergic reaction, strong scents can act as an irritant to make your symptoms worse.

Gardening do’s and don’ts

Consider all the things that might trigger your allergies when you’re outside. If you take the following precautions, you may protect yourself from annoying symptoms:

• Pollen isn’t the only cause of allergies in the garden. Molds (often found in compost piles and mulched grass) can also trigger allergic reactions. If these substances trigger your allergies, see if you can assign compost duty to another family member.
• Track your local pollen forecast, which can vary with the weather. Pollen counts are usually lower on rainy, cloudy, or windless days. Molds, however, may be at their highest on such days.
• If over-the-counter antihistamines are effective for relieving your allergy symptoms, take one at least a half-hour before gardening.
• Even if you’re a morning person, do your gardening later in the day. Pollen levels are at their highest from early morning until about 10 A.M., when rapidly rising temperatures tell plants that it’s time to pollinate.
• Consider wearing a particle mask while gardening, to help prevent breathing in pollen, mold, and other allergens and irritants.
• Wear a hat or scarf to keep pollen from sticking to your hair.
• Avoid touching your eyes or nose while gardening. You can transfer pollen that way.
• After gardening, shower and shampoo as soon as possible, change into clean clothes and, if possible, wash the clothes you were wearing. Taking these steps will help reduce your chances of bringing garden allergens indoors with you.
• If allergy symptoms persist, see your doctor. He or she can prescribe allergy medications such as nose sprays, antihistamines, and decongestants to help relieve allergy symptoms.

Whether you’re tending a flower garden, a vegetable patch, or a lawn, a few adjustments in your methods can make your environment an enjoyable and comfortable place to work and play — not a place you want to flee.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 at 1:55 am and is filed under Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.