| Updates Readers, Some of you might remember the article I wrote about the Sycamore
Tree that was cut down in Sycamore Hills to appease a couple afflicted
with an allergy. Recently I received the following response from
Tom Ogren, creator of OPALS (Ogren Plant ALlergy Scale): Dear Mad Girl, |
| That said, there are exceptions to the above rule. I recently did a consultation at a home where the owners' 15 year old daughter suffered from ever increasingly severe allergies and especially asthma. She had been hospitalized several times last spring. In their back yard I found a large California black walnut tree. Walnut trees are among the most allergenic of the nut trees. Black walnut is far more allergenic than English walnut,and California black walnut has the most allergenic pollen of all the species of black walnut. Considering that their daughter would get even more allergic to the tree with each year, I suggested they bite the bullet and cut it down, which they did. Horticulture is the art or science of manipulating flora for the benefit of the people in that immediate area. As such we plant trees and also sometimes remove trees. As a horticulturist I myself have propagated, from scratch, many thousands of trees, most of which are now out there growing. Per sycamore trees: they are in most respects an idiot's tree, rapid growing, totally easy to propagate, completely easy to grow. You can actually take a six foot branch of sycamore, while dormant in the winter, cut it off, stick it in a five gallon pot of soil, keep it watered, and come springtime it will sprout and grow and suddenly have a new, instant sycamore tree. It is next to impossible to kill the things. As such, they have been totally over-planted and it is hard to find any urban plantings in the U.S. that are not saturated with sycamore trees. Sycamore pollen is abundant but not especially allergenic, yet the trees have a fuzz on the twigs and leaves, and this fuzz becomes airborne and can be inhaled. The fuzz, tiny, microscopic and very sharp pointed, needle-like plant hairs, this fuzz causes plenty of rash, itch, "hay fever," and asthma. Landscapers never like to have to rake up large amounts of sycamore leaves, since they always end up itching so much. So, the question might well be, as it was for these people, if you have something like this in your yard, do you want it there? I am much more interested in putting limits on new trees that are being planted. A few, forward looking communities have now enacted pollen-control ordinances which stop the planting of highly allergenic trees. There are plenty of good trees we can use (in particular pollen-free female trees) and we ought to show some consideration for those with allergies. Often I find that those people who do not have allergies to pollen, that they could care less, that they simply have no sympathy at all for those who do. But times are changing, and I hope that this attitude will change too. Please feel free to use this e-mail on your site too, if you like. Yours, Tom Ogren www.allergyfree-gardening.com |
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