How to garden without making hayfever symptoms worse
Find out how to reduce hayfever symptoms when you're gardening
Hayfever is a miserable affliction for anyone, but it’s additionally frustrating if you love gardening. The main cause of hayfever is inhaling pollen, which is released from plants during their reproductive cycle. Pollen is made up of small particles and when they're inhaled, they can cause symptoms including sore throat, congestion, sneezing and itchy red eyes for those who are allergic to pollen.
According to the Met Office, there are more than 30 types of pollen that can cause hayfever in the UK, but the most common one to be allergic to is grass pollen, followed by silver birch tree pollen. The pollen of these plants is tiny and released in vast amounts – a single catkin on a birch tree releases millions of fine pollen grains. It’s this fine, wind-pollinated pollen that gets into the nose and eyes, causing hayfever symptoms.
“The good news is that the majority of garden flowers are insect-pollinated and are very unlikely to trigger allergy. Insect-pollinated plants have colourful flowers, often scented, to attract the insects to them but the pollen tends to be heavy and sticky and doesn’t get airborne,” says Dr Beverley Adams-Groom, Senior Palynologist and Pollen Forecaster at the University of Worcester. Cut flowers shouldn't cause symptoms, because the pollen is heavy and sticky and unlikely to become airborne, she explains.
“The best plants to use are those with enclosed flowers,” says Dr Adams-Groom, “such as lavender, salvias, irises, snapdragons, lupins, penstemons, nepeta and rosemary. There are many other suitable genera across the climbers, shrubs and trees, while ferns are non-allergenic.”
Although wind-pollinated plants can spread their pollen far and wide, there are steps you can take to reduce or alleviate symptoms, to a certain extent, in your garden, from planting low pollen plants to wearing protective clothing and planting barrier plants to reduce the impact of wind-borne pollen.
Is climate change affecting pollen counts?
"Research across the UK and the near continent clearly shows that birch and alder tree pollen seasons are increasing in severity in some areas," says Dr Adams-Groom. However, grass pollen seasons are not getting more severe, or longer, in these regions, she adds. This may be due to the impact of more extreme weather patterns affecting the growth and pollen emissions during the season. Pollution and the interaction of this with higher temperatures, especially in high-volume traffic areas can affect the potency of pollen although this is not currently measured in the UK, as a single pollen particle can vary in the amount of allergy-causing agent it has. There may also be changes in the distribution of allergenic plants, including common ragweed, which can produce a billion grains of pollen a season. Its pollen can cause a severe allergic reaction.
A Met Office spokesperson said: “Weather plays a huge role in how much pollen is produced and how it spreads. Rain, wind, temperature and sunshine all affect pollen levels in different ways. A changing climate will mean that changes in temperature and rain fall may lengthen the UK pollen season and potentially make pollen concentrations higher.”
Five hayfever-friendly plants
1. Roses
This popular garden plant is a good choice for gardeners who suffer from hayfever as roses produce a small amount of pollen. This pollen is heavy, so less likely to blow around in the wind, and the flowers are pollinated by insects, particularly bees.
2. Pear tree
Many trees including wind pollinated trees such as ash and hazel can cause hayfever symptoms. Fruit trees are a better option, bringing spring blossom that is pollinated by insects. And you get the bonus of delicious crops.
3. Hardy geraniums
There are lots of perennials which are suitable for a low pollen garden and also have a long flowering season making them a great choice for the border. Plants such as hardy geraniums, nepeta and snapdragons are pollinated by insects and therefore won’t cause any hayfever symptoms.
4. Ferns
Foliage plants such as ornamental grasses are popular for the texture, colour and movement they bring to a garden, but for hayfever sufferers it’s worth considering other plants with attractive leaves and foliage. Ferns are non allergenic.
5. Rosemary
Herbs such as rosemary and thyme are a good choice for those who get hayfever symptoms as the pretty flowers are pollinated by insects. Added to this, you will have fresh herbs for the kitchen, and plants that look good year round.
What you can do to alleviate symptoms
Protect your face and skin
“Gardeners can wear a face mask (like the ones we wore during the pandemic) and wraparound sunglasses to keep pollen out of the eyes,” says Dr Adams-Groom. Wearing sunglasses can help prevent hayfever symptoms such as itchy, red eyes. Putting on a wide-brimmed hat while gardening can also help to keep pollen out of your eyes and away from your nose. Pollen in the air can stick your clothes, skin and hair, so taking a shower after gardening or before bed will help minimise the amount of pollen causing symptoms.
Remove grasses from your garden
The pollen from grasses affects the majority of hayfever sufferers, including from ornamental grasses. The peak season for grass pollen is June and early July, although plants will release pollen between mid-April and September. Dr Adams-Groom advises removing any grasses from the garden. “Removal of grasses from the garden in favour of insect pollinated flowers can help to reduce the burden of allergenic pollen for you and your neighbours.” She does warn, however, that in areas where there are lots of grasses in flower in the surrounding area it may be difficult to achieve a low-pollen garden.
Although mowing the lawn can disturb pollen that is in the lawn, putting it into the air, mowing regularly also prevents grass from flowering and producing pollen. The best thing to do is to mow regularly while protecting your face from any pollen – or ask someone else to mow for you!
Avoid peak pollen times
Pollen is at its height between 5am-10am, when pollen is released, and in the evening between 5 and 8pm when pollen in the air cools and drifts to the ground. Spend time in the garden when pollen counts are lower. Pollen counts are at their highest on sunny days and are spread by the wind. Finally, check the Met office website so you know when there’s a particularly high pollen count day.
Choose insect pollinated plants
Hay fever is caused by pollen that is spread by the wind. Choosing to avoid plants such as grasses, as well as trees that spread their seed by wind, such as birches, will help alleviate symptoms. According to Dr Adams-Groom a single mature silver birch tree can emit millions of pollen grains in a couple of weeks during the main season. Although avoiding these trees in your garden will help, there is still a chance that pollen from trees nearby will get into your garden. “The majority of pollen is deposited within 100 metres of the tree but some gets further away, mixing in the airstream with other birch trees,” she says.
Plant barriers around your garden
Most hayfever is caused by tree or grass pollen and this can blow in from nearby parks or gardens. Plant a hedge to help block the wind and any pollen borne in on it. Choose plants that are insect pollinated for your hedge, such as laurel or holly, or plant some tall trees around your boundaries.
“Hedging will help to keep some pollen out of the garden but plenty can drift in from nearby sources,” says Dr Adams-Groom. “Tall, non-allergenic trees surrounding the garden, where possible, will be better at filtering out pollen from surrounding areas.”
Worst plant culprits
The main culprits for causing hayfever symptoms are wind-pollinated plants. “They produce very high amounts of lightweight pollen and usually have very insignificant flowers,” says Dr Adams-Groom. “Avoiding these plants in your garden will help to reduce the allergen burden.”
- Grasses – “one of the worst offenders for triggering hayfever affecting around 95% of hayfever sufferers,” says Dr Adams-Groom.
- Trees – silver birch trees affect around 25% of hayfever sufferers. Other trees to avoid include alder, oak, hazel, lime and plane.
- Weeds – nettle, mugwort, dock, fat hen and plantain. “These trigger symptoms in a small minatory of hayfever sufferers,” according to Dr Adams-Groom.
