Be Careful of What You Buy at the Greenhouse

      It’s been a long winter and a cold spring, but it’s finally time to go to the greenhouse to choose the plants that you will add to your landscape this year.  There are three things you should be careful of before you buy.

      First, if you have young children or pets, make sure not to buy anything that is poisonous.  There is a long list of plants that have effects ranging from mild skin irritation to death. Depending on the plant, reactions can be caused by either touching or eating a plant or both. Some people are more sensitive to poisonous plants than others. 

      An example of a plant you don’t even want to touch without plastic gloves is monkshood, also called aconite and wolfsbane.  All parts of the plant are poisonous and even a casual touch can cause numbness, tingling and cardiac irregularity.  If ingested, it causes burning, tingling and numbness in the mouth soon followed by vomiting and high anxiety.

      Other common poisonous plants include columbine, elephant ear, jimsonweed, foxglove, Siberian iris, castor bean and calla lily.  An internet search will yield many websites with extensive lists of poisonous plants. 

      If you have curious pets, you can find a list of plants poisonous to pets at www.aspca.org.  Enter “poisonous plants” in the search box.

      Secondly, avoid plants and seeds that have been treated with insecticides called neonicotinoids.  Neonicotinoids are systemic insecticides, which means they are taken up by plants and remain in all parts of the plants as they grow.  They persist in soil for months or years and are continually taken up through plant roots.  Since they are so long lasting in the soil, untreated plants can even take up the poison when planted near treated plants or in an area where treated plants have previously been planted.

      Neonicotinoids work on pest insects by affecting their nervous systems.  The problem is that nicotinoids also damage the nervous systems of important pollinator insects such as bees, wasps and butterflies as they visit the plants for pollen and nectar.  Research has clearly shown that neonicotinoids are killing bees or changing their behaviors.  For example, bees sometimes become confused and cannot find their way back to their hives, forget how to fly, lose their taste sensitivity, or are slower to learn new tasks.

      If there are no signs posted at the garden center or greenhouse saying that the plants offered are not treated with neonicotinoids, ask an employee to confirm that they are not being used.  If they don’t know and can’t find out, shop elsewhere.

      Finally, even though nurseries shouldn’t be selling invasive plants, you can still find some for sale that are listed on the Wisconsin DNR’s list of invasive species.  Go to dnr.wi.gov/topic/Invasives/classification.html and click on “Species List” and then “Plants.”  It might be interesting just to scroll through the list to see if you already have invasive plants in your yard.  P.S. You probably do!

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