England's Poison Garden

Let's look at another use for PPE today.



In England there exists an entire garden dedicated solely to poisonous plants. It's a part of Alnwick Gardens in England. This portion was started by Jane Percy, the duchess of Northumberland, in 1995.

Her husband gave her the job of doing something about the gardens, and she had turned them into a major attraction.

The duchess thought she might want to include an apothecary garden, but a trip to Italy set her on a slightly different course. After visiting the infamous Medici poison garden, the duchess became enthralled with the idea of creating a garden of plants that could kill instead of heal. Another trip—this one to the archeological site of the largest hospital in medieval Scotland, where the duchess learned about soporific sponges soaked in henbane, opium and hemlock used to anesthetize amputees during 15th-century surgeries—reinforced her interest in creating a garden of lethal plants.

"I thought, 'This is a way to interest children,'" she says. "Children don’t care that aspirin comes from a bark of a tree. What’s really interesting is to know how a plant kills you, and how the patient dies, and what you feel like before you die."

There are 100 varieties of plant in the toxic garden, and her only requirement is every one have a good story to make them interesting. Exotic types from places like South America will be found alongside common English laurels used for hedges.

Visitors aren't allowed to touch, taste, or smell anything, but people have still gotten overwhelmed and fainted just from the fumes in the garden!

The garden has a variety of plants that are common in drugs that the guides use for education. I'm sure we all know some common ones like cannabis that will be there. And the duchess has her personal favorite, a plant called brugmansia or Angel's trumpet which:

"It's an amazing aphrodisiac before it kills you," she says, explaining that Victorian ladies would often keep a flower from the plant on their card tables and add small amounts of its pollen to their tea to incite an '___'-like trip. "[Angel's trumpet] is an amazing way to die because it's quite pain-free," the duchess says. "A great killer is usually an incredible aphrodisiac."

I guess they also have a poison garden in Italy attached to the Medici family which inspired this one, but it was an interesting concept I'd not heard of before. So I thought I'd share. Imagine a garden where the gardeners have to wear PPE to prune the plants and the fumes can knock you out?

a reply to: ketsuko

I have heard that an intelligence resides inside the Brugmansia.

Often it tries to lure or trick one to killing themselves by getting in to an accident.

originally posted by: ketsuko
Let's look at another use for PPE today.

In England there exists an entire garden dedicated solely to poisonous plants. It's a part of Alnwick Gardens in England. This portion was started by Jane Percy, the duchess of Northumberland, in 1995.

Her husband gave her the job of doing something about the gardens, and she had turned them into a major attraction.

The duchess thought she might want to include an apothecary garden, but a trip to Italy set her on a slightly different course. After visiting the infamous Medici poison garden, the duchess became enthralled with the idea of creating a garden of plants that could kill instead of heal. Another trip—this one to the archeological site of the largest hospital in medieval Scotland, where the duchess learned about soporific sponges soaked in henbane, opium and hemlock used to anesthetize amputees during 15th-century surgeries—reinforced her interest in creating a garden of lethal plants.

"I thought, 'This is a way to interest children,'" she says. "Children don’t care that aspirin comes from a bark of a tree. What’s really interesting is to know how a plant kills you, and how the patient dies, and what you feel like before you die."

There are 100 varieties of plant in the toxic garden, and her only requirement is every one have a good story to make them interesting. Exotic types from places like South America will be found alongside common English laurels used for hedges.

Visitors aren't allowed to touch, taste, or smell anything, but people have still gotten overwhelmed and fainted just from the fumes in the garden!

The garden has a variety of plants that are common in drugs that the guides use for education. I'm sure we all know some common ones like cannabis that will be there. And the duchess has her personal favorite, a plant called brugmansia or Angel's trumpet which:

"It's an amazing aphrodisiac before it kills you," she says, explaining that Victorian ladies would often keep a flower from the plant on their card tables and add small amounts of its pollen to their tea to incite an '___'-like trip. "[Angel's trumpet] is an amazing way to die because it's quite pain-free," the duchess says. "A great killer is usually an incredible aphrodisiac."

I guess they also have a poison garden in Italy attached to the Medici family which inspired this one, but it was an interesting concept I'd not heard of before. So I thought I'd share. Imagine a garden where the gardeners have to wear PPE to prune the plants and the fumes can knock you out?

Great OP...what's funny about this to me, is just how little the average individual knows about plants.

I have seen kids at a bus stop surrounded by water hemlock, the arbiter of Socrates self imposed fate, drug dealers selling their wares, all the while standing on a powerful psychotropic growing wild.

The Medici's were well versed in murder and intrigue, one can imagine their garden was one made up of the particular toxins they themselves had used.

LOL one vacation spot the hubby won't be taking me to.

He is concerned that I know a lot of poisonous plants right here at home.
I had never heard of this garden, so thanks for sharing!

Fantastic!

I always wonder the history of plants and berries, herbs, etc. Someone had to eat them while walking along and it killed them, so Joe wrote it down don't eat that it'll kill you...

I just found it interesting that the gardeners are wearing full on hazmat suits to tend the plants. It makes you wonder how they managed to tend any of these things in older times. I'm sure there were those who grew them.

a reply to: ketsuko

He needs that hazmat and gloves for the giant hogweed it's phyto toxic so you only have to brush your skin on it and you get a burn that never goes away . Like poison ivy , but much worse . Really , it shouldn't even be there .
Most of the other plants , unless you ate them there's no no bother .
Someone else will set you straight regarding the mistake in your op

a reply to: DoctorBluechip

If it has to do with English aristocracy, I'm not English, so please let me know. I was going back and forth with the source and might have misrecorded something. Yes, Brugmansia should be capped, but I didn't go back for it.

a reply to: ketsuko

Thanks ketsuko that was cool.

"It's an amazing aphrodisiac before it kills you," she says, explaining that Victorian ladies would often keep a flower from the plant on their card tables and add small amounts of its pollen to their tea to incite an '___'-like trip. "[Angel's trumpet] is an amazing way to die because it's quite pain-free," the duchess says. "A great killer is usually an incredible aphrodisiac."

I thought that was interesting statement - "A great killer is usually an incredible aphrodisiac".

a reply to: ketsuko

Got some of those in the garden. The acconite can kill you from touch. Sill lovely in the garden though.

a reply to: ketsuko


Funny , I came across this last week at random as well ...

www.youtube.com...

Cool topic Ketsuko.

I've been wanting to learn a lot more about our native Australian plants and their uses.

Its surprising how many common plants are poisonous, lupins, foxgloves,

lily-of-the-valley, oleander, laburnum and hydrangea just to mention

a few.

It surprises me there are not more cases of children being poisoned by

accident.

a reply to: eletheia

I don't remember being tempted to eat just leaves and flowers as a small child. I don't think many are. Berries are another thing entirely though.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: eletheia

I don't remember being tempted to eat just leaves and flowers as a small child. I don't think many are. Berries are another thing entirely though.

I was doing some child minding from home and I had to have my home (and

garden) passed for safety by the local council and that was one of the things

I was asked about ......"Did I know which plants in my garden were poisonous"

The laburnum was a particular issue due to the pods being poisonous and

having the habit of falling.....

a reply to: ketsuko

I once watched a TV show about some 'herbalist gardener' who was espousing the wonders of peach leaf tea, which they said had the "surprisingly delightful taste of almonds"!

originally posted by: chr0naut
a reply to: ketsuko

I once watched a TV show about some 'herbalist gardener' who was espousing the wonders of peach leaf tea, which they said had the "surprisingly delightful taste of almonds"!

Yes, theres more than one numbnut amongst my peers. The lady that heads up the American Herbalist Guild advises people to drink peach leaf tea. My wife called her out for being a numbnut...she blocked my wife and proceeds to be a numbnut.

Hence why we will not join the AHG for almost 30 years

originally posted by: chr0naut
a reply to: ketsuko

I once watched a TV show about some 'herbalist gardener' who was espousing the wonders of peach leaf tea, which they said had the "surprisingly delightful taste of almonds"!

That's some scary sh!t.

originally posted by: DoctorBluechip
a reply to: ketsuko

He needs that hazmat and gloves for the giant hogweed it's phyto toxic so you only have to brush your skin on it and you get a burn that never goes away . Like poison ivy , but much worse . Really , it shouldn't even be there .
Most of the other plants , unless you ate them there's no no bother .
Someone else will set you straight regarding the mistake in your op

Giant hogweed is usually pretty harmless if you just brush up against it. Where it becomes a problem is if you get some sap on you (weedeating, or tearing it out unprotected) AND get into the sunlight for more that a few minutes. That is what the phyto-toxic part is about. Sunlight triggers a sever burn that can scar. No sun-light and it is basically nothing. It isn't a plant to really worry about in general though, plus it's huge, so its pretty hard to accidentally run into.

We used to do a lot of riparian restoration and took out lots of this stuff with large brush weedeaters. You just learn to wear proper protection and if you get juiced, wash it off. Handling it in the full sun, without protection though will definitely make you regret it.

a reply to: ketsuko

Wow thanks, now I know where to dump all those bodies in my basement.