Spring without sneezing: flowers and pollen allergy

If you are already battling with your eyes and nose in spring, you won't willingly bring a source of pollen into your living room. Yet in many homes a bouquet stands on the table, and nobody connects it with the symptoms in the evening. This article sets out which flowers really cause problems and where artificial flowers help.

What a bouquet spreads around the room

A bouquet on the dining table releases its pollen into the room air, and does so for days. Unlike outdoors, there is no rain to wash it out and no wind to carry it away. The advice of the German professional association of ENT doctors to those affected is correspondingly matter-of-fact: put the bouquet back outside.

Which flowers are the biggest burden

Not every bloom is equally problematic. The highest pollen load comes from:

• Chrysanthemums, and with them the whole daisy family.
• Sunflowers, also members of the daisy family.
• Gerberas, from the same family.
• Lilies, with very sticky pollen and a heavy scent.

The family connection is why switching to something else often fails: chamomile, marguerites and asters also belong to the daisy family. If you react to chrysanthemums, you gain little from a bouquet of marguerites.

On top of that, scent is an irritant in its own right. Heavily scented varieties such as lilies or hyacinths can trigger headaches and irritated mucous membranes even without contact with pollen. That is not an allergy in the medical sense, but it is unpleasant all the same.

Where artificial flowers make the difference

Artificial flowers do not release any pollen themselves. So they don't add an extra source of pollen to the room. That is the whole point, and nothing more is claimed here. In practice, that means:

• The flowers can go back on the dining table instead of being banished to the terrace.
• They can even go in the bedroom, where a scented bouquet is out of the question for many sufferers anyway.
• They stay put even when it is peak season outside and the windows stay shut.

The point where artificial flowers have a problem too

It would be dishonest to stop here. Over time, dust collects on the leaves of artificial plants, and for many people house dust is the same issue as pollen, only all year round.

If you react to house dust, you should therefore wipe them more regularly than appearance alone would require: every one to two weeks instead of every two to four. A damp microfibre cloth binds dust better than a dry duster, which only stirs it up. Twice a year, give them a more thorough clean with lukewarm water, then let them air-dry.

If you have the choice, go for smooth, larger leaves rather than heavily textured blooms with lots of gaps in allergy-friendly spots. They can be wiped in one go.

What else helps

Artificial flowers only solve part of the problem: the part you bring into your home yourself. The other recommendations for pollen allergy remain unaffected and are well established: air rooms in the evening rather than at midday, don't leave outdoor clothes in the bedroom, wash your hair before going to sleep. Anyone who is badly affected will clarify treatment with a doctor anyway. This article does not replace that and does not try to.

Where real flowers remain the better choice

• When nobody in the household is affected and the scent is part of it.
• With varieties that carry little pollen, such as double-flowered roses, which show hardly any exposed pollen.
• As a small gift, where the transience itself is the appeal.

And when guests come: with fifty guests, statistically there is almost certainly someone with hay fever at the table. With artificial flowers rather than cut flowers on the tables, that person has no symptoms and doesn't have to bring up their allergy either.

Matching products

For the dining table, ready-made Bouquets are a good fit; for shelves and windowsills, Potted plants. Single stems to put together yourself are in Single stems, containers under Vases & decor. More answers on materials and care are in Frequently asked questions.