How To Avoid Being Itchy in the Garden

Remember the old adage, "Leaves of three, let them be"? That was probably the rhyme your mother taught you to help avoid poison ivy. And now more than ever it's important to avoid the rash-causing ivy.

For starters recent studies have shown that global warming—and carbon dioxide in particular—is making poison ivy practically bionic. Here's how a researcher at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, MA described the newer and stronger poison ivy:

The ivy grown under high carbon dioxide grew twice as much over five years as the ivy exposed to today's level of the greenhouse gas. Also, ivy grown in high carbon dioxide produced a more allergenic version of urushiol, the compound that causes itchy rashes for about 80% of people exposed to poison ivy.

Here's another reason to be concerned about poison ivy: you may be more likely to develop a poison ivy rash the older you get. That's because the more you are exposed to it, the more sensitive your body becomes to it.

Take my family as an example: whereas my mother, an avid gardener, always had to take precautions against touching poison ivy, in my younger days I could have rolled around in it and not had to worry about getting a rash. Fast forward to my mid-40s and I got my first—and very bad—case of poison ivy while pulling weeds in my front yard. The rash got so bad that I had to go on an oral steroid, and to this day, I still have scars on my legs from the lesions.

These days, I only garden in long sleeves, jeans, boots and gloves. If I think I may have touched poison ivy, I make sure I wash the affected skin immediately with a dishwashing liquid like Dawn, which the Centers for Disease Control say can destroy urushiol, the oil in poison ivy plants, that cause the rash. That's because if you can get urushiol off the skin within 10 minutes of exposure, you likely won't develop a rash.

While poison ivy—and its cousins poison oak and poison sumac—can make you itch, there are other plants that can leaving you scratching, too. Some common ones include:

• arborvitae and related evergreen plants
• ragweed
• plants that grow food, such as green beans and cucumbers

In addition to washing the affected area immediately, you should wash the clothing you were wearing—especially if you are sensitive to any of these plants. Clearly, avoiding these plants is the best way to avoid getting a rash. But if you do find yourself red and itchy—and over-the-counter medicines aren't helping—definitely call the doctor. 

So enjoy your time in the garden but make sure that you stay vigilant about staying away from the plants that will bring you more pain than pleasure.