[Greengage]

Snowdrops are just going off flower at the moment but did you know all parts are pisonous. Sometimes bulbs are mistaken for onions. Pisoning symptoms include dizziness, stomach ache, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. A fatal dose is said to result in trembling and convulsions prior to death. Galantamine a chemical from Snowdrops has been used to slow the progress of early onset Alzheimer's disease. Dangerous place the garden

[Greengage]

Remember the murder of poor Alexander Litvinenko who was suspected of being pisoned by Ricin a substance from the castor Oil Plant. it has since being discovered that that polonium-210 had been administered and was responsible for his death. The long arm of retribution reached out to let the world know they would not accept traitors. Anyway enough of that, I was looking for a book and came upon this Ricin :The inside story of the terror plot that never was.
In January 2003, the British media splashed the news that anti-terror police had disrupted an Al-Qaeda cell, poised to unleash the deadly poison ricin on the capital. Police had reportedly found traces of ricin, as well as a panoply of bomb and poison-making equipment in the cell's 'factory of death' - a shabby flat in north London. 'This danger is present and real, and with us now' announced prime minister Tony Blair. But, when the 'ricin plot' came to trial at the Old Bailey, a very different story emerged: there was no ricin and no sophisticated plot. Rarely has a legal case been so shamelessly distorted by government, media and security forces to push their own 'tough on terror' agendas. In this meticulously researched and compellingly written book, Lawrence Archer, the jury foreman at the trial, and journalist Fiona Bawdon, give the definitive story of the ricin plot, the trial and its aftermath i copied that bit from here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ricin-Inside-Story-Terror-Never/dp/0745329276/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359189858&sr=1-1 so what has it to do with poor Alexander nothing just interesting that Poisioning by Rictin which is from the castor oil plant is linked to both stories.

[Sue Deacon]

The 'present and real' danger was Mr Blair himself.

On the theme of poisonous plants perhaps it is the right time to mention hyacith bulbs. Some years back I was at Bridgemere Nurseries in Cheshire, where, at this time of year, they have a large department of pick-n-mix of bulbs.

I chose some lovely hyacinths and went to pay for them, before going for a coffee. While in the queue, I brushed hair out of my face. Within minutes my face and neck were burning and I had to leave the bulbs to go and wash my face. Good God it hurt! No long term damage was done, but there are now signs up warning about the irritant qualities of the papery bulbs. I was already a gardener of some years experience. But still had to learn the hard way the dark side of these beautiful flowers.

Been planting bulbs? 'Now wash your hands'!

[Good guy]

Thankyou for that timely advice, Sue.
As for clear and present danger, the US President Elect's recent appointees put Blair in the halfpenny place, methinks.

[Margo]

Advise of any form is good. Not sure if they do it here but a lot of garden centres in UK provide plastic gloves to pick and mix bulbs

[Good guy]

From childhood until my late teens, the sap of daffodils would bring me out in severe hives.

[Greengage]

There is much debate every year as to Poinsettias are they poisonous or not . Well the truth lies somewhere in the middle yes it is toxic, but so low that it rarely cause poisoning. it does produce a milky sap when damaged and this could cause dermatitis like all Euphorbias.
It is said that poinsettias were first part of Christmas in 16th century Mexico when a poor girl was told by an angel to offer weeds as a gift and the angel turned the leaves into a beautiful red display. It was introduced to the USA in the 1820s by Joel Roberts Poinsett, United States Minister to Mexico at the time, and though it achieved some popularity it was not until the 1950s that plant breeders started trying to produce a plant that would rapidly grow into a small bush covered in the red leaves. Very clearly, the ‘tradition’ of having poinsettia in the house at Christmas was commercially driven.
it is very difficult to keep the plant in god condition from year to year and to get it to produce the nice red bracts is almost impossible unless you are very dedicated to minding it. So for Nurseries and garden centres it is the perfect plant from a sales point of view. Most poinsettias for the Irish market are grown form plugs but they can be started from cuttings but that's the easy part, once started getting them from rooted cutting to the finished product is a lot of work, but the finished product is always colourful this time of year.

[Sue Deacon]

Poinsettias, like all spurges, have a sticky latex like sap that is an irritant to the skin. The sap is photoirritant/phototoxic, i.e. Aggravated by sunlight.

Person I have no time for such fussy Primadonnas. I rely on my Christmas cacti for winter colour. Some of mine are over 20 years old!

[Margo]

I hate them

[Good guy]

For color I have holly, cotoneaster and pyracantha berries and crab apple Red Sentinel. I leave the pointlessias on the shop shelves.

[Sue Deacon]

Back in September I was chatting with a neighbour at the gate. She said I see you have a nice lot of holly berries this year. Until then I hadn't noticed. I thought great they will do nicely cut for the house at Christmas.

Went out to get them last night - the birds have left me 2! Well I suppose their need is greater than mine, so I will have to rely on my fake poinsettias to add a splash of red. 😁

[Greengage]

Thinking of kissing under the mistletoe?
Eating the berries of mistletoe can cause pale lips, inflamed eyes, dilated pupils, slow pulse, hallucinations and coma and may result in hepatitis. Imagine that.
Mistletoe was said to have been once a tree and the wood was used to make the cross that Christ was hung from, it was therefore condemned to never be able to grow in the ground. So it grows as a parasite by putting roots into a tree.
It can be found growing on mostly soft woods but if found growing on Oaks it was said to be something sinister at work as it took strength from the trees it grows on.
According to Pliny the druidic priesthood valued, worshipped even, mistletoe where it grew on their sacred trees, particularly their oaks (on which European mistletoe is, actually, very rare). They would climb the tree to harvest it, cutting it with a golden sickle, then let it fall naturally to be caught in a hide or cloak before it touched the ground. If it did reach the ground it would lose its special powers. The special harvest would then be used in ritual or in medicine.
http://mistletoe.org.uk/homewp/index.php/traditions/

[Sue Deacon]

Yeh, who needs a parasitic plant as an excuse to kiss!