Garden tips for hayfever sufferers.
For all hayfever sufferers the aim is to reduce, minimize or eradicate the possible triggers as far as is practically possible. When looking at your garden, there are a number of useful things that you can do to reduce the incidence of pollen and thus reduce the hayfever triggers.

• Edges, hedges and shields
• Lawns
• Ground Cover
• Good gardening is the key
• Compost and potting mixes
• Rules of thumb

Edges, hedges and shields.
We tend to look at our fencing plants as shields from prying eyes. However, we should also look at them as shields from airborne pollen, which may come from next door, the next suburb, or even from several kilometers away.
Try to avoid the traditional hedges. These harbour dust and pollen. When they are trimmed especially on days of high winds, they tend to release plenty of dust and pollen into the air. Instead, use low allergy creepers as barriers to reduce the amount of pollen coming into the garden. Creepers can be grown over traditional wooden fences or even over lattice structures.

Lawns.
Many lawn grasses can trigger asthma reactions, but lawns can also trap and release dust and pollen, just as hedges do. Where practical, try to reduce the amount of lawn that you grow. However, if you need to keep the lawn, then try these tips to reduce the impost of pollen:

1. Change the lawn to low allergy grasses. These may include grasses such as some species of couch and buffalo.
2. Mow the lawn more frequently to keep seeding to a minimum.
3. Mow on cool cloudy days and wear a mask or some eye protection and wash with clean water afterwards, particularly rinsing around your eyes.
4. If possible, avoid mowing the lawn at all, get someone else to do it!
   

Ground cover.
Well, we have torn up the lawn, what next? Replace lawns with hard surface areas, such as paving or other mineral based ground covers. Try to avoid organic mulches as they break down to produce and release mould and fungal spores, which are major causes of allergic reactions.
It is particularly important around entrances and windows that you reduce or eliminate any pollen producing plants. There are many ground covers that can be planted and most of them are very attractive as well.

Good gardening is the key.
Weeds should be eliminated. Not only are they unsightly, weeds are automatically the result of windblown spores and are likely to create high pollen counts. Thus having good gardening techniques not only makes the garden look better, but will also help to reduce the pollen count in your garden.

Compost and potting mixes.
By all means, have a compost bin, but use one of the newer style enclosed bins. Compost, like any other organic mulch, rots down and produces fungal and mould spores. Keep them under control by covering them in! Potting mixes should always be approached with caution. Pot up your plants on cool days, wear the proper protection and always wash your hands and face thoroughly afterwards.

Rule of thumb.
As a general rule of thumb, most Australian native plants are low allergenic compared to the imported northern hemisphere plants. Similarly, low scented plants tend to be less allergenic compared to highly scented plants, so stick to Australian natives with low smell. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, so we suggest that you contact your local nursery or your own state asthma organization for advice on low pollen count plants that are suitable for your area.