This past summer I dug my spading fork deeply into a fresh mound of chipped wood mulch and what appeared to be smoke filled the air.  I put my hand down to see if perhaps the pile had heated up enough to burn, but it didn't seem that hot...or at least not any hotter than wood sitting out in a 90 degree sun would feel. 

            The next morning when I woke up I thought I had developed a horrible cold overnight. I was coughing and my lungs were so congested that it was hard to catch my breath.  By noon, I felt much better so of course I headed right back out to mulch. Next morning, I woke up sick again. That's when it struck me. We've all heard horror stories about mold growing in our houses and how it can harm our health, but what about all the molds we must have in our gardens?  I'm pretty sure that what looked like smoke coming off that pile of wood chips was actually a cloud of mold spores and I was sticking my head right into the middle of it. 

            After that I took care to always stand upwind when I dug into the pile and my congestion and deep cough eventually subsided.  In the future I might even consider wearing a dust mask when I'm working with wood mulch to avoid breathing any of the mold spores.  I'm not too fond of masks, but I am also not that fond of the effects of the mold. 

            Avoiding moldy mulch and dead leaves is important, but if you have allergies...and over 50 million people in this country do...there are other things you can do to prevent allergic reactions when you are out working in your garden.  One of the best is to select the right plants for your landscape.   

Last year, I attended a seminar given by Tom Ogren who wrote the book, Allergy-free Gardening: The Revolutionary Guide to Healthy Landscaping.  Ogren blames the upsurge in asthma and allergies on the popularity of male plants.  He says, "Eventually I came to realize that in the name of tidiness, for the cause of low maintenance, male trees and shrubs were being planted by the millions. Since the males produced no seeds, fruits, messy flowers or old seedpods, they were considered far superior to female plants."   This is truly a case of good news, bad news.  Although the male plants don't litter the yard, they do, according to Ogren, "bombard urban areas with huge amounts of pollen.   

Since most of us don't have a clue which plants are male and which are female, Ogren includes a plant allergy scale in his book.  The scale ranks each plant with the safest, least allergenic plants at 1, and the worst, most allergenic at 10.  

Ogren's scale is a good place to start when you are choosing plants for your landscape that won't aggravate your allergies, but here are a few other tips:

1. Remove or avoid planting wind pollinated plants. Wind pollinators produce copious amounts of the lightweight pollen that is carried by the wind to a receptive female of the same species. Look instead for insect-pollinated plants with larger, brighter flowers that have the male parts recessed deep into the blossom.

2. Limit your use of ornamental grasses. I asked Tom Ogren about using ornamental grasses in the landscape and he responded, "Most of them [ornamental grasses] are grown from seed, and are quite capable of producing a fine crop of highly allergenic pollen, thus for the time being, I am not recommending any of them in allergy friendly landscapes."

3. For the same reason, large prairie plantings are also not recommended. Most prairie seed mixes include native grasses and daisy-like forbs, both of which are not the best choice for those with allergies.

4. Root out weeds before they have a chance to grow to maturity and release their wind-born pollen. One ragweed plant, for example, is capable of producing over a billion grains of pollen per season

5.  Wear a dust mask when working with mulch, dead leaves, compost, manure and even natural fertilizers, all of which have the potential to harbor mold spores.

6. Monitor pollen counts. There are several good websites that give daily pollen counts including the one at www.pollen.com.

7. Spend your time outdoors at midday when pollen counts are usually at their lowest.

8. Wash your clothes and take a shower immediately after working outside in your gardens to keep allergens from contaminating your inside environment.

9. Most importantly, identify the plants which give you problems. If you find you have a grass allergy--then plant more gardens, less lawn. Allergic to trees? Either do not plant any trees or research which trees are the least allergenic.

           Switching from a power mower to a push reel mower may also help your grass allergies.  Power mowers kick up huge clouds of grass particles, and some university studies have shown that push mowers reduce the amount of airborne spores.  Need a little help to push? There are new rechargeable battery-powered versions of the old standard reel mowers that make the pushing a lot easier.  These new and improved push mowers even come with grass catchers for those who like to compost their clippings.  Sunlawn, Inc. specializes in reel mowers and offers improved new models of both rechargeable and standard reel mowers on Amazon.com.

           With a just a little research and common sense you can make your yard a healthier, more "allergy-friendly" landscape in which to garden and relax.

Books on landscaping and gardening to avoid allergies by Tomas Ogren

"Allergy-Free Gardening: The Revolutionary Guide to Healthy Landscaping" by Thomas L. Ogren, 10 Speed Press. Paperback - 267 pages (June 2000).  The most important feature of this book, is the rating of plants on a scale from one to ten (with ten causing the worst allergic reactions). As David Stadtner, a practicing allergist, writes in his foreword, "the book should be in the library of every nursery and municipal park department."

"Safe Sex in the Garden and Other Propositions for an Allergy-Free World" by Thomas L. Ogren, 10 Speed Press. Paperback - 208 pages (March 2003). Residential and commercial landscapes are loaded with male-only trees and shrubs since they are litter- and therefore maintenance-free. But given a choice, what would you rather do--sweep or battle hay fever?