poisonous plants

I was sorry to read of the death of a gardener from multiple organ failure after 'brushing against' some Aconitum.  Sorry, and slightly perturbed.  I grow Aconitum in the far rose bed, where it does well on the unpleasant vein of exposed clay that was the legacy of our predecessors' gesture towards landscaping the back garden.  Some is (I think) common A. napellus, a present from my mother's previous garden, and some is A. carmichaeli 'Arendsii', which has darker blue flowers later in the year.  I did try the pale blue 'Stainless Steel', but that found the clay too challenging and quietly faded out.

I finished cutting them down and consigning their stalks to the compost heap a few days ago, chopping their stalks into shorter sections for good measure to help them rot.  At no point did I feel that I was dicing with death.  Aconitum stems and leaves are fairly tough, not particularly sappy or easy to break, and although I have long known that they were poisonous, I've not worried about handling them.  After all, foxgloves and daffodil bulbs are poisonous, as are yew berries.  You know not to eat them, but you don't worry about touching them.  In fact, I am more wary of Euphorbia with its milky sap, an irritant capable of raising blisters in minutes and leaving the skin sensitive to light for years, than I am of Aconitum.

That said, I habitually garden in gloves.  Outside the greenhouse, when I'm not handling seeds or tiny seedlings and commercially made compost, I wear gloves for most tasks.  I might take them off for some fiddly dead-heading when I know the plant, but for plunging my hands into the great mass of foliage and earth gloves are the order of the day.  Likewise I stick to long sleeves and trousers, even in the hottest weather.  Before the plant centre introduced staff uniforms, when they were beginning to think they might do so, I put my marker down that I would not work in anything less than full length sleeves.  This was partly because I hate broken tan lines, but also because I prefer my arms to be protected while I work, from minor scratches and irritations, and as it turns out from the odd deadly poisonous thing as well.  I tried gardening in shorts in the really hot weather years ago, but soon got fed up with the scrapes and insect bites, plus the earth getting deeply ingrained in both knees.

So, I feel very sorry for the poor Aconitum victim, who presumably thought he knew what he was doing in his work just as much as I do in my own garden.  And mystified, because as Bunny Guinness said on the radio at lunchtime, it's a commonly grown plant, and this is a very rare accident.  The report in the Telegraph details two other Aconitum poisonings, but one was a deliberate attempt to kill somebody by lacing their curry, and the other was of somebody who mistakenly ate it on a camping trip.  I also feel quite sorry for the 'millionaire' garden owner, who presumably didn't intend a member of staff to be poisoned, even if he does employ an 'army' of them, not to mention a 'veranda with seating room for at least a dozen guest, overlooking a manicured square lawn with two black sculptures of sheep'.

Addendum  I am very glad we saw the poppies at the Tower of London when we did, before it became a complete scrum, and I have sympathy with those who are asking if it can't be kept open an extra week or so, instead of being taken down straight after Remembrance Day.  Not so for those who want it kept for the whole four year duration of the Great War.  The poppies are planted in mown grass, which it is obviously impossible to mow while they're still there.  The installation is by its very nature time limited.  Or at least, you could leave it for four years, and the results might be quite symbolic as the poppies were overwhelmed by grass, seedling trees, brambles, and an accumulation of wind blown litter, but you can't have it looking as it does now for more than a few more weeks.