WELLNESS AUTHOR
Miranda Culvert
THE BEST AND WORST PLANTS FOR AUSTIN ALLERGIES n Feeling stuffy this allergy season? Here are a few of the local plants that could be giving you allergy grief.
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here’s something in the air, and it isn’t love! Fall in Texas means sneezing, wheezing and sniffling for many of us. Like live music and barbecue, allergies are just part of life in Austin. While you’re probably a fan of the first two, most of us could do without the allergies. To steer clear of those annoying allergy symptoms, we’ve put together a list of the plants that are friendly for Austin allergies — and which you may want to leave out of your garden this season.
THE WORST
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Cedar
You may have already felt the effects of cedar fever in the winter. Cedar fever is the most notorious allergy in Central Texas — caused by the ashe juniper in the cypress tree family (otherwise known as the mountain cedar tree). These native evergreen trees release their yelloworange pollen in quantities so big, you can see the puffs of pollen in the air. They’re everywhere in Austin, so you might not be able to escape the pollen.
DECEMBER 2020
Ragweed
If autumn makes you miserable, ragweed is the likely culprit. Ragweed is a common weed that dumps lots of pollen into the air. How can you cope? Keep your yard well-weeded and take your allergy meds until the ragweed has finished pollinating. You can keep track of the allergy count from local sources to help you figure out if it’s a Claritin or Zyrtec kind of day.
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