Landscaping surrounding buildings where people live, work or go to school often triggers allergies and asthma: Strategies to reduce exposure from proximity pollinosis

Proximity pollinosis (and related allergic-asthma) in urban areas has long been overlooked or ignored by most public health professionals, even though pollen-allergy/asthma levels are now commonly termed “epidemic,” and are increasing each year. Modern landscaping, which relies heavily on asexually-propagated clonal male (staminate) selections (often termed “fruitless, litter-free, or low maintenance”) is pollen-intensive, frequently triggering very high pollen counts in their proximity. Many of the highest pollen counts on record in the US come from traps in close proximity to public schools. Often the most allergenic landscapes are found at elementary schools, as they were intentionally planted to limit seed, fruit or pods from female (non-pollen producing) trees and shrubs. Effects from climate change are also increasing pollen-production from the all too-popular male clonal selections; bloom periods are now often doubled, and are lasting longer. Modern horticultural propagators make considerable money from long-lasting lucrative patents on these highly allergenic clonal selections, and have no incentive, yet, to change the products they grow, extensively promote, and sell. There needs to be much more public education about this ever more serious health problem, and regionally-related regulations need to be created to limit further expansion of this exposure (some cities have already enacted “pollen-control ordinances”).

It is now possible to design low-pollen, or even pollen-free landscapes at no greater cost than typical landscapes; health benefits to many would often be immediate, and there are no related negative side effects.