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Old 25-03-2007, 06:47 AM posted to aus.family,aus.gardens
FlowerGirl[_2_] FlowerGirl[_2_] is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Feb 2007
Posts: 21
Default X-post: Poisonous plants and childcare


"len garden" wrote in message
...
g'day amanda,

hi Len

i understand that but if you have oleander there i would strongly
recommend to remove it, but having said that as far as i am aware
there are no recorded severe illnesses or death from someone consuming
oleander sap that is the toxic bit.


Yes - not so common anymore in Australia, but there are recorded illnesses
and deaths from not just the sap but also the seeds of both the common and
the yellow oleander (different genus). According to the Toxic Exposure
Surveillance System (TESS) in 2002 there were 847 known human poisonings in
the United States related to Oleander (Watson 2003) ... rare enough but
still recorded.


maybe some of the plants of concern could be fenced so the kids can't
get to them?


Ah now see the fence would cost too much money for a C&K who are non-profit.
I do agree that we need to teach kids about the wonders of plants ... so why
not use plants that aren't so likely to cause serious illness.

On another tack I'm reminded of a story about my dear FIL ... on a visit to
Brisbane, he was concerned about all the oleander planted between the north
and south-bound lanes of the Gateway Motorway. DH pointed out that any kid
that managed to negotiate 2 lanes of 100km/hr traffic to get to them would
hopefully also be lucky enough not to start eating the hedges!

Amanda