wife believes plant (on left) is oleander. with 3 dogs, she is concerned about having in yard. Help, please.
Don't know if dogs would come to harm, but it is a high-risk plant - I've read that it is one of the commonest causes of poisoning in horses, where it is grown. So it might be as well to be rid of it.
Every single part of oleander is poisonous, including the root system, & extreme care needs to be taken if removing it as it is deadly to humans. It was a popular garden planting in this area & was seen in older gardens, but most, now, seem to have been removed.
Further info re oleander. It remains toxic even in its dry state & people here are advised not to use it as fuel for their wood-fired bbqs (grillers) because of its high-risk toxicity. It is also very poisonous to animals. All in all, an extremely dangerous plant.
That is most certainly correct, Liz. Don't know how the plants in the gardens around town were disposed of, because they can't even be chipped & used for mulch. Overall, they are quite a problem plant, aren't they?
It is only poisonous if ingested. Should be OK to chip them up, as long as you wear a dust mask, and don't eat the chippings produced.
One wonders if these same concerned folks also grow: Datura/Brugmansia Daphne Lupine Vinca Rhododendron Holly Caesalpinia/Senna/Cassia Asclepias/Calotropis Aconitum Euphorbia Delphinium/Larkspur Digitalis Nicotiana ...And think nothing of the danger?
A lot of those, while poisonous, combine their toxicity with such a revoltingly disgusting taste (often acrid/burning), that the likelihood of being able to eat enough to get poisoned are very low. It is true that some of them are fairly risky, though. Oleander, by contrast, is fairly high on the list of plants for which serious poisoning incidents (particularly for livestock) are recorded. Presumably it doesn't taste so awful, so animals may go on eating till they get a lethal dose. Holly is not very poisonous at all, deer and horses often strip hollies bare, without suffering any ill effect at all (not so the holly, though!!). People are a bit more susceptible, but you'd still have to eat quite a lot of holly berries to be poisoned. Several lupins are also edible, and grown as fodder crops and even for human food.
No saltcedar, I grow none the plants you mention, in fact my brother nearly died after eating part of a datura flower when he was about 2yrs old. The toxin in oleander is in the sap of the plant & affects all of it. It really is not a plant to be treated lightly.
Yes I do. Holly not by choice but because it is a weed is regularly pruned by the goats. I keep them away from Rhodos, daphne etc. It may be old wives tales but the Oleander has come up time and time again. I even rember as a youngster when we first moves to Oz at a desert mining place called Mt Isa NOT to pick the flowers. They grew and probably still do in profusion. I have also seen them as beautiful ornamental balls along the lake Como and thought at the time I might do that with the one I had. It has since died under a whole lot of blackberry growth that has finaly been removed Liz
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Lupinus+mutabilis http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/pls/portal30/docs/FOLDER/IKMP/FCP/LP/LUP/AUSTSWEETLUPINS.HTM http://www4.fao.org/cgi-bin/faobib.exe?vq_query=D%3DLUPINUS%20MUTABILIS&database=faobib&search_type=view_query_search&table=mona&page_header=ephmon&lang=eng http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-4747991/Evaluation-of-Lupinus-albus-L.html Back to you ;-)