Ah, Spring! The season of warm sunny days, baby lambs and renewed growth in our gardens – but for many Australians, it is also time spent sneezing and wheezing with seasonal rhinitis, or ‘hay fever’. Your garden need not be the source of allergies, though. Here are some trees and flowering plants you can grow that will allow hay fever sufferers and asthmatics alike to enjoy their time outdoors. Generally, the pollens that trigger allergies are lighter and wind-borne, so a garden with plants that are pollinated by birds or insects is less likely to be troublesome. Which means there is no reason to avoid all flowers! Some of the best flowering plants include:
• Roses
• Petunias
• Pansies
• Impatiens
• Citrus
• Frangipani
• Tibouchina
• Chinese Lantern
• Hibiscus
• Lavender
• Camellias
Australian native plants tend to be low-allergen, and have sweet, nectar-filled flowers that will bring colour, birds and bees to your garden year-round:
• Kangaroo Paw
• Callistemon
• Grevillea
• Banksia
• Bottlebrush
• Firewheel tree (Stenocarpus sinuatus)
• Tea tree and even grass trees (Xanthorrea australis)
If you’re still nervous and prefer to avoid flowers altogether, try planting colourful foliage plants such as
• Cordyline
• Kangaroo Grass
• Coleus
• New Zealand flax
As a regular precaution, however, people with allergies should avoid mowing lawns during the grasses’ flowering season, and check the pollen count at www.pollenforecast.com.au before heading outside.
If your looking to upgrade or change your plants throughout your commercial property for low-allergen plants or looking for commercial landscape maintenance contact Skyline today or head to our Sectors pages to see how we can help your business.