Rosie16/4/04 10:03
I have a toddler and a medium-sized laburnum tree at the back of my garden,
which seems to produce a lot of seeds.
How poisonous are these seeds? They do seem to get everywhere. Would I be
best off getting rid of the tree?
(Obviously she isn't left to wander around the garden by herself, but she
does like shoving things in her mouth.)
To be honest, only you can figure out how much this is going to worry you.
Laburnums are poisonous but you might want to ring up either the RHS or e.g.
Great Ormond Street Hospital to get some figures on how many children have
died or even been taken seriously ill from eating any part of this plant.
The warnings must be given, IMO but the actualities are another matter.
I brought up 3 children of my own and now have a grand daughter and I think
I can fairly say that I am *very* safety conscious - very - and we have just
planted a short laburnum arch in our garden. You simply don't allow a small
child to wander a garden alone - our grand daughter loves the bright red
berries of cuckoo pint and picked several last year - but because one of us
was always with her, she didn't get them as far as her mouth and was taught
firmly that they are not to be touched. She has now learned that going to
the fish pond without a grown up is a no-no and that's because I am *very*
strict with her about that - but never complacent.
I have never once had a child related to me (or any other child for that
matter) ingest or be affected by any poisonous plant but I have had alarms
with nearly all of them picking up and stuffing in their mouths bits and
pieces they've found or picked up e.g. coins, rubbers, pencils, small toys,
bits of chewed paper and a few serious attempts on things like paper clips.
I once read of a very small baby choking to death on a piece of tissue
handkerchief with which its father had wiped its mouth. But death by plant
material? Never, in my experience..
--
Sacha
(remove the weeds to email me)