At this time of year, while many are delighted to have made it through the colder months and into the joys of summer, a whopping one-in-four of us will be struggling with itchy eyes, sneezing fits and a runny nose. It’s hard to feel quite as excited by the sun on your face, when it arrives along with your pollen allergies!
Hay fever can have a huge impact on how much we enjoy this time of year, not to mention the pleasure that we can get from both relaxing in and working on our gardens. Apart from reaching for the eye-drops and antihistamines, what can we do to make sure that hay fever doesn’t keep us from our gardens?
The key to hay fever-friendly gardening is understanding pollens and pollination.
Types of pollens
Pollens that cause hay fever can come from grasses, trees and weeds / flowers, and different people are allergic to different pollens. The pollens also release at different times of year, depending on the growing cycle of the plants. Tree pollens strike first, as early as March in the UK, and lasting well into May. The grass pollen season takes over in May, and sees us through to July. And before that’s out of the way, flower or weed pollens start up in June and continue until September. Some people are only allergic to one type of pollen, while others may be allergic to all.
Pollinating methods
The key to planning a garden that considers hay fever sufferers, is to think about how the plants in your garden spread their pollen. Some trees, flowers and grasses have evolved to spread pollen in the wind, while others rely on pollinating wildlife, such as bees and other insects. The latter are much more manageable for people suffering from pollen allergies, so in most cases, the plants that will work in a hay fever friendly garden are insect-pollinated. Luckily, they are also often the most beautiful, because their blooms play an important role in attracting those six-legged pollinators.
Grasses
Grass pollen is one of the biggest culprits for hay fever, and their plentiful wind-spreading pollens can be hard to guard against. While not all grasses cause allergies, the ones that do are abundant. 95% of people with pollen allergies struggle with grass pollens.
If you keep your lawn well-mowed, you can reduce grass pollen being released from your own lawn, by cutting it before the flowering heads appear. Removing ornamental grasses can help, as well as thinking about wind-flow and potentially reducing the size of your lawn.
However, if you live near fields and meadows, or have neighbours who grow grass types that trigger your allergies, you may still suffer from grass pollen allergies in your garden.
This is where shrubs, hedges and natural borders can help. They can act like natural air filters, catching the pollen as it is blown your way. Just make sure, as you plant your hedge or shrub, that whatever you choose is not a wind-pollinated border plant! For example, conifers make excellent filters, but as wind-pollinating trees, they may lead to a whole different pollen problem.
Trees & Shrubs
For those suffering with allergies to tree pollen, the culprits are most regularly trees and shrubs that produce catkins. These include many very popular tree varieties, such as oak, birch, pine, beech, mulberry, sweet chestnut, walnut, hazel and yew. As well as catkins on trees, flowering shrubs that can cause issues include wisteria, jasmine and juniper.
If you’re planning a garden around allergies, a good rule of thumb is to plant trees that have attractive blossoms, such as fruit trees, because they are insect-pollinated.
Some trees are dioecious, which means they have male and female plants. In urban planning, there has been a tendency towards of selecting male plants, because they do not bear fruit, so therefore require less management. Unfortunately, however, the male trees produce significant amounts of pollen, which has increased pollen count in some cities and towns significantly.
If you are planting dioecious trees in your garden, opt for female trees, which will bear more fruit and produce less pollen.
Flowers & Weeds
We’re back to thinking about pollination methods as we think about flowers that are kinder to allergies, as well as the shape of the flower. Think about the how the pollen source is accessed to exposed, and whether pollen is likely to be caught by winds, or whether the petals protect the stamen. For example, plants such as aster, sunflowers and rudbeckia have exposed pollen beds – so even if they are primarily insect-pollinated, they can still cause issues. Meanwhile, flowers such as foxgloves are shaped so that their pollen is protected, ready for bumblebees rather than gusts of breeze.
Some of the most pernicious weeds can be challenging for allergy sufferers, including nettles and dock, so having plans to keep weeds at bay will be an important part of your pollen management.
We’d also recommend investing in some raised beds to help segment your flowers where needed. This helps to manage your garden and give some height to your planting areas.
Flowers to actively avoid to reduce allergies include lilies, chamomile, chrysanthemums, daisies and sunflowers.
Hay fever friendly flowers to grow
Luckily, there is a huge range of very beautiful flowers to choose from if you want to make your garden welcoming to people with allergies.
Roses are excellent choices, as are peonies, offering all the beauty of summer blooms, but without exposed pollen. We’ve mentioned the trumpet-shaped foxgloves above, you can also look to other flowers with visually interesting shapes, such as snapdragon (Antirrhinum) and Astrantia. Begonia and clematis are good choices too. Brillant splashes of summer colour from gladioli will also work well.
In your flower beds, you can include hardy ground cover plants that will help you to keep weeds at bay, while also adding colour to your garden, such as geraniums, alchemilla and pachysandra.
If you’re having trouble establishing your plants during the colder months of the year, it might be worthwhile investing in a fully-fledged greenhouse, or a patio greenhouse if you’re short on space in your garden. Establishing your seedlings in a greenhouse is a great way to get your hay fever friendly plants up and running ahead of the season.
Managing Pollen
This article has covered a range of things you can do to manage pollen in your garden, including:
- thinking about the types of plant in your garden and how they pollinate
- making a plan to reduce grass pollen from your lawn, with regular mowing or even reducing the size of lawn
- removing plants and trees that are wind-pollinators
- planting boundary shrubs as living filters
- planting insect-pollinated flowers to enjoy
- planting ground covering plants to keep wind-pollinating weeds at bay
However, even taking all these measures, the worst of hay fever allergies may still cause issues for gardeners – or even for people who live with gardeners. At this point, managing pollen becomes a case of preventing it from coming into the home with you, for example making sure that you change clothes after extended time spent outdoors.
Hopefully, with some of these techniques, you can manage your allergies and your planting in a way that still allows you to make the most of the summer months in your garden.