Poisonous Plants in the garden - harmful plants in the garden and home.
Many garden plants are poisonous or harmful. Get to know them before it is too late! We list some of the most toxic garden plants.

The are a number of poisonous plants in the garden. We list the worst culprits of poisonous and harmful plants in the garden. Many poisonous and otherwise harmful plants, are surprisingly common. We have poisononous plants in our own private gardens, on sale at garden centres, on show in gardens open to the public; including many public parks that are totally un-supervised..

Digitalis

Daphne

Fremontodendron

Laburnum

Lobelia

If you drink too much water, you will die:  Fortunately, we are never likely to  drink too much water; However, if you eat just one small 'Rosary bean' - sometimes imported in cheap jewellery, as necklaces etc - you will almost certainly die!

Just take a look at the plants in the images above, and the ones below, and see if you know which of these are either poisonous or harmful in any other ways.

Lily of the Valley

Ivy

Azalea

Shaped Box (Buxus)

Common Laurel

They all are. Some are deadly!
 

Digitalis - the foxglove - contains a heart stimulant chemical 'digitalin'. It is one of the most poisonous plants to be found in gardens. Agatha Christie 'bumped off' someone by mixing a few foxglove leaves into a green salad - just in one of her books you understand. I recently found a Digitalis in the culinary herb section of a garden centre!  

Taxus bacata (below) - the common Yew. I recently sat in an open air cafe, where it was possible to not only stroke the foliage of the lethal Yew, but a child could easily have picked the deadly berries.

The common Cherry Laurel (below) Our garden doctor service was recently asked if the 'cherries' on her evergreen cherry laurel were ok to eat. Good thing she asked first - they are quite poisonous. (A problem here, is that the edible cherry, and the laurels all share the same family name. They are all Prunus!) A bigger problem is the nickname - Cherry Laurel. 

Whilst we are talking of Laurels, it is interesting to note that there are other dangers with some Laurels. For instance, the Portuguese Laurel (Prunus lusitanica) has cyanide compounds in its leaf structure. On no account should this foliage be burnt.

 Click Lists for other poisonous plants or otherwise harmful plants