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ALLERGIES
Outdoor Allergies
Outdoor allergies, also referred to as hay fever, seasonal allergies or nasal allergies occur when allergens typically found outdoors like tree, grass and weed pollen or mold spores are inhaled. Many plants "mate" by releasing billions of pollen grains into the wind during the spring, summer and fall months, including many grasses, trees, and bushes. These are the types of plants you want to avoid in your garden. Instead, you should consider plants that rely on insects for cross-pollination, which are known to have pollen grains that are much heavier and don’t travel through the air quite as easily.
Plants to Avoid
- Grasses — Bermuda, Fescue, Johnson, June, Orchard, Perennial Rye, Redtop, Salt Grass, Sweet Vernal, Timothy.
- Shrubs — Cypress, Juniper.
- Trees — Alder, Ash, Aspen, Beech, Birch, Box Elder, Cedar, Cottonwood, Elm, Hickory, Maple, Mulberry, Oak, Olive, Palm, Pecan, Pine, Poplar, Sycamore, Walnut, Willow.
- Weeds — Poison Ivy/Oak/Sumac, Cocklebur, Pigweed, Ragweed, Russian Thistle, Sagebrush.
Other preventative tips:
- When working outdoors, wear a NIOSH-approved face mask, hat, glasses, gloves and a long-sleeve shirt to reduce skin and nose contact with pollen.
- Since wood chips or mulch can retain moisture and encourage molds to grow, use gravel, oyster shell, or special plant groundcovers (vinca or pachysandra) instead.
- Don't mow the lawn or weed the flower beds, ask someone else to do this task.
- Keep grass cut low — 2 inches high — to help keep stems of pollen from reaching to high into the wind.
- Be cautious about using hedges since their branches easily collect dust, mold and pollen.
- Keep the windows in the house closed while mowing and for a few hours afterwards.
- Limit your gardening days to cool or cloudy days, and in the later afternoon or evening when pollen concentration in the air is generally lower.
- Immediately shower and change your clothes when you go back indoors and make sure to wash your hair to remove allergens trapped there.
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