Safe Sex in the Garden and Other Propositions for an Allergy-Free World [Paperback]

Leo Thomas Ogren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

safe sex in the garden

And Other Propositions for an Allergy-Free World by Thomas Leo Ogren

Residential and commercial landscapes are loaded with male-only trees and shrubs since they are litter- and therefore maintenance-free. But given a choice, what would you rather do—sweep or battle hay fever? The fact that our urban forests have been propagated with male-clones is a crime on two counts: male plants are the pollen-producing offenders, and without female plants to absorb pollen, allergenic pollen counts are on the rise nationwide. In SAFE SEX IN THE GARDEN, horticulturist Thomas Leo Ogren explores this safe sex issue (plant sex, that is!), as well as many other allergy-related topics: organic gardening, protecting pets against allergies, handling allergy-related stress, and global warming’s affect on allergies.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

•Forty years ago, only 5 percent of Americans suffered from allergies; today, that number has grown to a whopping 38 percent!

•ALLERGY-FREE GARDENING has sold over 10,000 copies.

About the Author

THOMAS LEO OGREN is a former landscape gardening instructor and nursery owner and is the creator of the Ogren Plant Allergy Scale (OPALSTM), the first plant-allergy ranking system now used by the USDA. He lives with his family in San Luis Obispo, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580083145
• ISBN-13: 978-1580083140
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #821,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bio: Tom Ogren, San Luis Obispo, California

Thomas Leo Ogren has an MS in Agriculture/Horticulture from Cal Poly University. All his graduate work was on plant flowering systems and allergies. He taught horticulture and landscape gardening for 20 years and had his own radio show, "Tom Ogren's Wild World of Plants," on Public Radio in Minnesota. He has owned two nurseries and also dairy farmed for 8 years.

Tom's writing has been published in magazines such as Landscape Architecture, Women's Day, Earth Island Journal, Alternative Medicine, New Scientist, American Rose, California Landscaping, Pacific Horticulture, Pacific Coast Nurseryman, Wild Ones Journal, Smart Money, The Utne Reader, Der Spiegel, Second Wind, Garden Design, and Garden Gate. His research and writing has been called bold, innovative, important, and revolutionary.

Allergy-Free Gardening was his 3rd published book, and Safe Sex in the Garden his 4th. Both of these books have been reviewed worldwide in hundreds of publications, from the London Times in England to the Jerusalem Post, in Israel.

The Chelsea Garden show in England did an award-winning exhibit based on his research. Tom has twice been a guest on the Bay Area TV show, Henry's Garden, and has appeared numerous times on HGTV's "Smart Solutions." His work has been the focus of TV documentaries made by Toronto's City TV, and by The Discovery Channel. His work was featured on the CBS Evening News and he was also interviewed on National Public Radio's Morning Edition and on NPR's All Things Considered.

The Garden Writers of America nominated Allergy-Free Gardening as "The Most Important New Garden Book of the Year."

Ten Speed Press published Tom's next book, Safe Sex in the Garden, in March of 2003. In spring of 2004 Time Warner Books published his book on Lawns.

Tom has been researching landscape plants and allergies for over twenty years. The Canadian and American Lung Associations, New Zealand Arborist Association, local asthma coalitions, and the USDA Urban Foresters now use his research on allergies. Tom can be reached through his own website at
http://www.allergyfree-gardening.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most interesting book on asthma and allergies I've seen., May 4, 2003

By 

"naomiogren2009" (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Safe Sex in the Garden and Other Propositions for an Allergy-Free World (Paperback)

I have allergies and I found this book fascinating! I heard the author, Tom Ogren, interviewed on NPR's Weekend Edition with Linda Werthheimer. After hearing that interview I immediately wanted to read this book. It was every bit as good as I expected, better. It is a very clearly written book, but there is so much new information in it that I may have to read it three or four times for it all to sink in.
The title of this book comes from the discovery that male plants, especially male street trees, are raining allergenic pollen on us all. Male plants are used since they don't make seeds. Female plants, which are all pollen-free, are shunned. The chapter on "How to tell the boys from the girls," is great!
In some ways it reminds me a bit of The Botany of Desire, another book that mixes horticulture and health. I'm also going to buy the author's first book, Allergy-Free Gardening, a book I've heard nothing but praise for. In Safe Sex in the Garden there are many tips for living allergy-free. The horticulture is excellent too and it is completely clear that the author is a botanist of considerable standing. I looked him up on a Google search and found that he has landscaped an American Lung Association headquarters (in Richmond, VA), that the USDA urban foresters use his plant/allergy scale, and that county asthma coalitions hire him to produce pollen-free landscapes at elementary schools.
This a very fine book and I intend to recommend it to all my friends who garden, who enjoy exciting botany, and certainly to anyone with asthma or allergies.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too Cool!, April 30, 2003

By 

Rachel Clark (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Safe Sex in the Garden and Other Propositions for an Allergy-Free World (Paperback)

I flat out love this book! It is a real kick, lots of neat stories about real life interactions between people and plants. This might not sound like zippy material but actually, it is.
I already owned Mr Ogren's earlier book, Allergy-Free Gardening, a book I simply can't do without. This one though, Safe Sex in the Garden, is more personal, very fun to read.
There is a wealth of information here that you can't find anywhere else. Nothing else is even close really. No one understands plant sex better than this author. I live in Berkeley, California, and around here it seems like quite a few people are discovering these books. At least half a dozen of my friends have now read this and all of us are crazy about it. It is an important book. I am a teacher, have allergies, and am very interested in urban ecology, the biology of the city. This fine book has expanded my understanding of horticulture, medicine, nature, and the manipulation of our landscapes. I recommend it to all teachers, to those interested in gardening, health, to anyone who wants to learn some new and different aspects about the world around us. And yes, after you read this book, like me, I'm sure there will be some changes made in your own yards. This book is too cool!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you would want to know about Allergies, April 27, 2003

By 

Jason Wallach (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Safe Sex in the Garden and Other Propositions for an Allergy-Free World (Paperback)

Since I live in an apartment in San Francisco I dont have yards or lawns or any of the more typical gardens, but I still found this book to be thought provoking and useful. On my balcony I have quite a few potted plants and I got rid of one of them as soon as I realized it was a male yew pine that produced pollen that was both allergenic and toxic. Inside the apartment we have houseplants and I will be making some changes here too. One of the chapters in Safe Sex in the Garden deals with indoor air quality and plants that either produce harmful VOCs (volatile organic compounds) or that consume these VOCs. The ficus tree I have been laboring for years to keep green, will go, replaced by something more benign.
In this book are good chapters on stress and allergies, on feng shui gardens, on going organic, animal allergies, smog trees, outdoor mold reduction, skin rashes, poisonous plants, OPALS, groundcovers, and of course, how to tell the boys from the girls. The boys, you see, produce pollen, while the girls, although they might be a bit messy at times, they never produce pollen. Pollen is a male thing, in fact pollen is the male plants version of, well, you figure it out!
I have long been interested in urban ecology and this book is easily one of the best and most important documents on the subject. The research that went into this book was not backed or directed by any large organization or university. This enabled the author, Ogren, to do it his own way, to look at things as they came. I think this explains a great deal as to why he discovered so much that so many others in medicine and horticulture so clearly missed. Read the chapter on the effects of global warming on pollen production, for example. Fascinating.
With any luck at all, this book will be a big hit and will be sold far and wide. The author is and has been apparently attacked by some as being too political for a science writer. I would say though, more power to him, go for it. Someone needs to let the cat out of the bag about this exploding allergy/asthma situation and he is the one to do it.
I also enjoyed a great deal the sections on plant sex in history. Curious to see how scientists such as Gregor Mendel and even Charles Darwin, writing in prudish times, how both of them avoided mentioning plant sex, avoiding even the mention of pollen. My vote for best line in this book though, is this one: Considering that huge amounts of allergy and asthma are caused by excessive wind-blown pollen, it might not be too far fetched to say that pollen-allergy is no doubt the most common sexually transmitted disease in the world.
An excellent book!