Poisonous Plants

Plants are a beautiful part of all but the starkest modern garden, although I’m not sure if it can be called a garden without plants. Perhaps this is a question for another blog?

Plants can be beautiful because they have showy flowers, colourful berry’s or  decorative foliage. whatever feature we choose our plants for has often come about through nature and evolution, of course breeding programs can also have been implemented in enhance the feature that we find so attractive.

In nature plants don’t produce these feature to be pleasing to our eye maybe they are trying to attract beneficial insects that spread their pollen or maybe they want to attract birds with seed heads that help to spread the seed further.

Not all features are meant to attract though, its important to remember in designing gardens that plants also use defensive techniques. These parts are meant to be a warning and contain chemicals that protect them from grazing creatures or other attack.

Its these features which we may find attractive but if we are not careful can be used against us to. This is especially important when designing gardens that will be used by children, people with allergies or illness and pets. People who may not be aware of the harm some reactions can cause. This is not to say these plants cant be used just that education and a watchful eye are important but when it comes to animals avoiding them be advisable.

Below is a list of 30 of the more common plants in our gardens that can cause a reaction, some well known some less so.  Some of these plants are poisonous if eated and other have a sap or milk that reacts with the body.