Allergy-Free Gardening: The
Revolutionary Guide to Healthy
Landscaping by Thomas
Leo Ogren
This book presents a new
idea and does so very well indeed. Ogren,
a former landscape gardening instructor,
proposes that in our private and public
landscaping we need to reduce the use of
plants that cause allergies. Until the
publication of this book, the information
needed to make allergy-free choices had
not been compiled in one easily
accessible source; nor had a scale been
devised for rating plants that cause
allergies. Here, Ogren accomplishes both
these aims. His introductory material
presents many plants and allergies new to
this reviewer, and he shows how to apply
his ideas. The main part of the book
consists of plants listed in alphabetical
order by their scientific names, with
numerous cross references to their common
names. Brief annotations provide
descriptions and notes regarding
allergies. The most important feature,
however, is the rating of plants on a
scale from one to ten (with ten causing
the worst allergic reactions). As David
Stadtner, a practicing allergist, writes
in his foreword, "the book should be
in the library of every nursery and
municipal park department." It
should be in public and academic
libraries as well.
Changed the way I look at
plants., May 5, 2003
Reviewer:
Sarah from Culver City, CA
United States
Allergy-Free Gardening really did
change the way I look at plants. I have a
background in both horticulture and
botany and yet there was so much new
material that I learned from this book
that I was frankly, amazed. I knew a bit
about plant sex, but in retrospect, very
little.
In Thomas Ogren's eyes all plants are not
created equally--or at least they
certainly are not equally of value to us.
In the past I planted and never gave much
thought to whether or not something would
be causing me rashes, allergies or other
plant-triggered illnesses. I look at
trees, shrubs, vines, flowers, lawns
different now though. I use this book to
find the best plants, the ones that will
be attractive and useful in my garden and
that will be healthy choices for me and
my family.
I like the way Allergy-Free Gardening is
set up. Everything is easy to find, easy
to understand, easy to use. This author
has a real talent for taking the very
complicated and putting it all into
easily understood layperson terms. His
writing is fluent, personal, interesting.
You have the feeling he cares deeply
about what he does. I haven't read his
newest book yet, Safe Sex in the Garden,
but I have two friends who have and they
thought it was excellent. I've ordered a
copy of it also. But, if you garden or
you are concerned about your health, I
expect you will enjoy this book. I also
find that I use it over and over as a
general gardening reference book, since
it is full of good, solid, down to earth
horticultural advice. This is one of the
best gardening books I own, and certainly
the best thing written on allergies,
asthma, and avoiding pollen. --This
text refers to the Paperback
edition
10 of 10
people found the following review
helpful:
This is the best book on
alllergies I've ever seen!, April 2,
2001
Reviewer:
Christy Mountin from
Elmwood, Wisconsin
Packed with information that is
scientific yet very easy to understand, I
found Allergy-Free Gardening to be
completely useful. It is a book that I
refer to often and already I have been
making very good use of it in my own
gardens. This book is arranged in such a
way that it easy and quick to find any
and garden plants discussed and allergy
ranked. I like the way every plant is
ranked on a one to ten scale since this
makes it perfectly clear as to the
allergy potential of each. I also have
found this to be an excellent general
gardening book, full of useful tips on
much more than just allergies. The
author's explanation about plant sex and
male and female plants makes a great deal
of sense. It is something that I hope
will be much better understood in the
near future. I have been recommending
Allergy-Free Gardening to everyone I know
who gardens and certainly to everyone I
know who has allergies. It is an
impressive, well-researched, fun to read
book and really, a must for anyone with a
decent gardening library. Last week there
was a large article about this book in
the San Jose Mercury News and the garden
writer there obviously agrees with me. If
you have allergies, this is the one to
own.
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