Sneeze Free

To keep your garden allergy friendly use plants that rely on birds (grevilleas and bottlebrush) and insects (salvia and lavender) for pollination rather than wind. This means they generally don’t release pollen into the air, minimising plant induced attacks on you and your friends and family who may suffer from asthma and allergies. Also, be careful not to let your grass grow too long – seed heads from lawns are often one of the triggers for hay fever and asthma.

At Eden Gardens in Macquarie Park we have a display garden example showing the sort of plants to include.  It was created nearly ten years ago in conjunction with The Asthma Foundation NSW, and has grown into a beautiful cottage style garden that can also inform and educate people living with these conditions and to help them enjoy the wonderful benefits of gardening.

The garden showcases array of plants such as begonias, camellias, rosemary and veronica to provide year round interest and colour. Combinations of annual colour, perennial shrubs and fruit trees can be recreated at home in gardens or pots. The garden is unified by the central, circular path and symmetrically arranged plant beds, to maintain air flow and movement.  These are mulched using gravel which doesn’t harbour fungal spores.  Other devises, such as mirrors, help make the garden appear larger than it is.