I'm guessing none of us have ever heard of anyone being "killed" by aconitum before now: so , in the great scheme of things, not much of a risk to the overwhelming majority.
The son of a friend of mine could die if he eats baked beans, I'll stick with the risk and carry on eating them.
If you've ever been round the poison garden at Alnwick (you have to opt for the tour to get you through the locked gates) you will have been amazed at just how many of the plants growing there you have in your own garden - be it poisonous bulbs (bluebells and daffodills) or the more obvious flowers and berries. We have to learn never to eat anything we do not know about - which is probably why most of us don't pick the fungi growing in the woods (many of which are quite edible, if you know the right way to prepare and cook them) whilst in France |I m offered wonderfull girolles because the French have been brought up knowing which fungi can be eaten. That said, there are fatalities every year!
I'm glad you touched on this aconitum issue Salino because its something I've been agonising over since I asked dear Lyn to send me some seeds. I was all set to sow them around September time but the more I read about this plant the more I hesitated.
I'm all for living life to the full including taking the risks that go with it. I'm far more likely to drop dead from a weakness for stuffing my face with the wrong sort of food than being poisoned by monkshood. That said, I cannot with a clear conscience sow this plant in my garden any more than I would grow deadly nightshade. Yes many garden plants would give you a bad stomach if ingested but I believe there are degrees of toxicity and aconitum is clearly up there with the likes of deadly nightshade.
This newspaper article was the last straw in my book and I ask myself this. If aconitum were not so beautiful, would the gardening rule of thumb be to pull it up wherever it appeared?
. I wouldn't care to be staring at that in my garden either, considering it's hidden abilities...
...for a vibrant blue I'd rather grow Anchusa 'Loddon Royalist'...and I wonder, when a new member requests a desirable perennial with blue flowers, Aconitum will be recommended...
..but it seems a bit of a shame that the subject is treated with some degree of flippancy here and there, considering the young man's death...possibly from this cause...
Obelix, if you come back here, I planted a rhubarb plant some years ago, ants built a huge nest in it and it died. So, 3 years ago I bought 2 more plants and 1 died, the other looks sickly. 2 years ago I bought 2 more plants, different variety and they haven't grown at all. Leaves go limp. I dug in lots of rotted manure and did what the books say. But I'm in Dordogne, not Charente, on a limestone ridge.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
I still can't help thinking that aconitum is accepted into most gardens on account of its beauty. Is it a risk worth taking simply because of its aesthetic qualities? Why don't gardeners encourage deadly nightshade or even death cap toadstools?
..gardeners will grow what they want, as we all tend to do and that's our prerogative, but as this is a forum which, I think, prides itself on the advice it gives, the recommendations it makes...much from trial and error experience... like the t.v. programme it should have a responsibility to advise using caution where necessary... I mean, should an Aconitum be recommended to a new gardener...?
..like the t.v. programme, this forum sometimes I think, does not question or challenge enough... Gardener's World t.v. also should, in my view, make more use of its tendency to teach by warning new gardeners about these often inherited dangers....frequently, as a matter of course... instead it follows a flowery, friendly, cosy line... as if everything in the garden is beautiful...
..In fact, I would like to see them display before the final credits, a short list of the most toxic, or the most invasive plants that are readily available to purchase, with a warning that we advise against the planting of these...
Posts
I'm guessing none of us have ever heard of anyone being "killed" by aconitum before now: so , in the great scheme of things, not much of a risk to the overwhelming majority.
The son of a friend of mine could die if he eats baked beans, I'll stick with the risk and carry on eating them.
Keep things in proportion eh?
In the sticks near Peterborough
If you've ever been round the poison garden at Alnwick (you have to opt for the tour to get you through the locked gates) you will have been amazed at just how many of the plants growing there you have in your own garden - be it poisonous bulbs (bluebells and daffodills) or the more obvious flowers and berries. We have to learn never to eat anything we do not know about - which is probably why most of us don't pick the fungi growing in the woods (many of which are quite edible, if you know the right way to prepare and cook them) whilst in France |I m offered wonderfull girolles because the French have been brought up knowing which fungi can be eaten. That said, there are fatalities every year!
I'm glad you touched on this aconitum issue Salino because its something I've been agonising over since I asked dear Lyn to send me some seeds. I was all set to sow them around September time but the more I read about this plant the more I hesitated.
I'm all for living life to the full including taking the risks that go with it. I'm far more likely to drop dead from a weakness for stuffing my face with the wrong sort of food than being poisoned by monkshood. That said, I cannot with a clear conscience sow this plant in my garden any more than I would grow deadly nightshade. Yes many garden plants would give you a bad stomach if ingested but I believe there are degrees of toxicity and aconitum is clearly up there with the likes of deadly nightshade.
This newspaper article was the last straw in my book and I ask myself this. If aconitum were not so beautiful, would the gardening rule of thumb be to pull it up wherever it appeared?
. I wouldn't care to be staring at that in my garden either, considering it's hidden abilities...
...for a vibrant blue I'd rather grow Anchusa 'Loddon Royalist'...and I wonder, when a new member requests a desirable perennial with blue flowers, Aconitum will be recommended...
..but it seems a bit of a shame that the subject is treated with some degree of flippancy here and there, considering the young man's death...possibly from this cause...
..you did the right thing Fishy, I think...
Obelix, if you come back here, I planted a rhubarb plant some years ago, ants built a huge nest in it and it died. So, 3 years ago I bought 2 more plants and 1 died, the other looks sickly. 2 years ago I bought 2 more plants, different variety and they haven't grown at all. Leaves go limp. I dug in lots of rotted manure and did what the books say. But I'm in Dordogne, not Charente, on a limestone ridge.
I still can't help thinking that aconitum is accepted into most gardens on account of its beauty. Is it a risk worth taking simply because of its aesthetic qualities? Why don't gardeners encourage deadly nightshade or even death cap toadstools?
..gardeners will grow what they want, as we all tend to do and that's our prerogative, but as this is a forum which, I think, prides itself on the advice it gives, the recommendations it makes...much from trial and error experience... like the t.v. programme it should have a responsibility to advise using caution where necessary... I mean, should an Aconitum be recommended to a new gardener...?
..like the t.v. programme, this forum sometimes I think, does not question or challenge enough... Gardener's World t.v. also should, in my view, make more use of its tendency to teach by warning new gardeners about these often inherited dangers....frequently, as a matter of course... instead it follows a flowery, friendly, cosy line... as if everything in the garden is beautiful...
..In fact, I would like to see them display before the final credits, a short list of the most toxic, or the most invasive plants that are readily available to purchase, with a warning that we advise against the planting of these...