Allergy-Free Gardening: The Revolutionary Guide to Healthy Landscaping

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Review: Allergy-Free Gardening: The Revolutionary Guide to Healthy Landscaping By Thomas Leo Ogren Reviewed by William Ted Johnson Chandler Public Library, USA Ogren, Thomas Leo. Allergy-free Gardening: The Revolutionary Guide to Healthy Landscaping. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 2000. 267 pp. ISBN 1- 58008-200-9 (cloth); 1-58008-166-5 (paperback). US$32.95 cloth; US$19.95 paperback Ambiguity surrounds any discussion of allergies. While this title represents a significant effort to quantify the allergy potential associated with a variety of plants and the landscapes where they grow, it overstates the case against many species found in home and community gardens across North America. The author's system of allergy classification (OPALS Ogren Plant-Allergy Scale) relies heavily upon the type of associated with a particular species (specific gravity, shape, stickiness), though a number of additional factors are considered, including: odors, flowering period, and skin contact with leaves, stems, sap, roots, bulbs, etc. Plant-insect relationships are even included. For example, the likelihood of encountering aphids on some plants (grapes Vitis) affects its allergy potential. Unfortunately, the manner in which these factors are considered to come up with a single score from 1 to 10 is not explained, leaving one with the impression that the whole system relies more on subjective estimation than scientific objectivity. The text consists of two parts. Part one is an explanation of gardening. Use of the term is somewhat misleading in that the author is talking more about general landscaping than specific types of gardening (e.g. vegetable gardening). He acknowledges the challenge of actually creating an garden, but claims this can be done by planting only female plants. We can select female-only cultivars that do not cause contact allergies and do not present odor challenges. The right female garden would not release a single grain of pollen, ever! Such a garden would be truly allergy-free (p. 11). It would also be free of some of the most widely used and popular plants found in landscapes today. Such a narrow focus in landscape design undermines recent efforts to consider the holistic value of native plantscapes that save water and maintenance costs while attracting local wildlife. Erosion control, aesthetics, and cost should receive as much consideration as a plant's allergy potential. As suggested in the text, individuality is an important factor when it comes to allergies (p. 104 entry for Ficus) . This suggests that an individual's reaction to a plant should be the basis for deciding whether or not to include it in your home landscape. Why avoid mulberry trees on the basis of its allergy potential if the only thing you are allergic to is olive pollen? A number of studies have led to more questions than answers when it comes to the relationship between and allergies. For example, D'Amato (1999) suggests that this issue is more complex than simply removing bearing trees from our urban landscapes. He found that air pollution hitches a ride on and modifies its allergy potential. Driessen and Quanjer (1991) suggest that is unable to induce an immunological response in a person's lower respiratory tract. They state that, pollen asthma probably results from a gradual cumulative effect of deposition of small amounts of allergen in lower airways, and is hence poorly correlated with daily counts. …