[cg] Book Review: Safe Sex in the Garden – and Other Propositions for an Allergy-Free World

[Alliums]

Hi, Folks!

Here's my next-to-last book review until February. PASA has granted me a 
press pass, so I should have several articles from the February conference 
to share. Let me know if you are interested in using this book review -- I 
retain copyright.

Dorene


Safe Sex in the Garden – and Other Propositions for an Allergy-Free World 
by Thomas Leo Ogren, Ten Speed Press, 2003.  ISBN:  1-58008-314-5, $14.95.

As young teens, my female friends and I would sneak into our parents’ 
libraries and read the books on sex out loud to each other.  While the 
spine on this book says only “Safe Sex in the Garden,” hopeful teenagers 
won’t find much to help them navigate human intimacies; however, if they 
suffer from allergies, they (and their parents) will want to refer to the 
book often.

Ogren’s wife, mother and sisters all suffer from hay fever and 
asthma.  When he reviewed the literature, he found little guidance, so he 
began serious horticultural research into the relationship between 
flowering plants and human (ill) health.  His first efforts resulted in the 
Ogren Plant Allergy Scale (OPALSTM), the first plant-allergy ranking 
system, now used by USDA to develop allergy rankings for major urban 
areas.  His first book, Allergy-Free Gardening: The Revolutionary Guide to 
Healthy Landscaping, listed commonly used plants on a scale from (1) least 
allergenic to (10) highest allergy-causing potential.

In Safe Sex in the Garden, Ogren broadens his approach to include 
techniques, observations and environmental modifications that home and 
apartment dwellers can easily make to reduce allergens (and thus allergy 
symptoms) for both people and pets. And it all starts by knowing how your 
plants have sex.

Most urban allergies are based on too many positively charged pollen grains 
(male) invisibly clogging up the air in search of a negatively charged 
surface with which to meld.  In nature, where the male and female of a 
species are usually in balance, these pollen grains are lured into 
negatively charged pistils (female) to produce seeds. Unfortunately, for 
the last 50 years, landscapers, urban planners and home gardeners have been 
planting “seed-free/litter free” versions (ie males) of popular plants and 
not planting females to scoop up the males’ pollen.  When the pollen can’t 
find a pistil, it tries to meld instead with the most ubiquitous negatively 
charged surface – the moist membranes of the human nose, eyes and mouth.

Ogren wants you to figure out if you’re surrounded by male plants whether 
from indoor potted plants, garden beds or street tree plantings, so he 
spends several chapters describing plant sexual characteristics in such an 
engaging manner that you’re sure that if only you had had him as your high 
school botany teacher, you’d never have forgotten anything, including how 
to pronounce “monoecious.”  Once you know the sex of your plants, he 
advises you on how to balance the male/female ratio so that the pollen 
makes seeds, rather than havoc with your nose.

While most allergies are from pollen, Ogren wants to reduce all plant-based 
suffering.  Therefore, he has two excellent chapters on indoor houseplant 
and outdoor tree care (sickly plants are breeding grounds for mold and 
insect dander which also aggravates allergies), strong recommendations for 
organic lawn and garden care (no chemical residues which can also trigger 
allergies), a chapter on plants that cause skin rashes, another chapter on 
poisonous plants and poisonous pollen (not always the same species) and 
pointers on both preventing allergies in your pets and observations to make 
before deciding that a cat or dog is the source of someone’s allergies 
(often, it’s a delayed reaction to a nasty strain of pollen on the animal, 
rather than the animal itself.)

Ogren’s style can be glib at times and his examples are weighted toward 
California (where he lives, and it appears, the gaudiest trees, like birds, 
are male.).  In compiling his lists, he errs on the side of caution, but if 
one suffers from allergies, one WANTS an author who errs on the side of 
caution!  These quibbles aside, if you have allergies and want clean air 
both inside and out, buy this book and consult its lists before buying any 
new (preferably female) plants.

Reviewed by Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John’s United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden
Phoenixville, PA