Gardening Matters: The Love of My Days

Thursday, July 19, 2012

The Love of My Days

Photo: The killer plant looks harmless, but so far has taken out 20 fish.

I had a very upset Facebook friend contact me this week about her pond. The woman had stocked her medium size water feature up with some lovely Koi carp and wanted to protect them from any wayward herons that were looking for a free meal. The family had tried the plastic herons around the perimeter of the water but it didn’t seem to work. They were advised to plant bushy marginal plants along the bank to give the fish protection and shield them from view should any predators come along.

All was well with the foliage cover but one of the plants got a bit too big for its spot so her husband cut some of the stalks to reduce the overhang. When the stalks were cut a white sap came out of the centre, a bit like when you break the stems of dandelions. They thought nothing of it until the next day when they went out to feed the fish, and found them all dead. Just a few drops of the sticky white sap had dripped into the water and poisoned every fish.

I was asked to identify the plant.

Killer Plants

I found out that bamboo sap is poisonous to fish, but by the looks of the stems and leaves it wasn’t bamboo. I found out after a bit of investigating that the plant is a euphorbia. They are quite common plants and although they can be delightful to look at there are certain types that can be a real irritant to the skin and potential killer. In South Africa the latex sap is used to actually catch fish, when they ingest it they float to the top of the water paralyzed and are easily caught. Other varieties are used for waterproofing and in leather polish, dental mouldings, sealing wax, metal lacquers, paint removers and lithographic colours. Mixed in paraffin it is used to make candles, so the plant has many useful uses but wear rubber gloves when handling them! E. Candelabrum latex is very poisonous and is sometimes used to make poison arrows, the plant varieties we have can cause blistering and skin irritation and if ingested could mean a trip to casualty.

The woman will be removing the euphorbia from the side of the pond, draining the water and leaving it a while before restocking with more fish. There are a lot of safe marginal plants out there so hopefully they will make a better choice next time. Gardening can be a dangerous business.

Poetry Corner

I have another fantastic poem for you this week from Tara Rowan in Letterkenny. Even though she is tired, the expectations of her garden flourishing are keeping her going.

The Love of My Days.

Planted, watered, covered with soil

My arms and legs are tired from toil.