Beautiful Poisonous Flowering Bulbs


© Traute Klein, biogardener

The most beautiful spring flowers are poisonous, including flowering bulbs. Learn to recognize them so that they won't make you sick.

Spring!

Today is the first day of spring, my favorite season. Here in Winnipeg, we still have snow on the ground, but in my native Germany, spring starts much earlier. I wonder if you can see signs of life under the snow where you live. Today I am going to tell you about the first spring flowers, flowering bulbs. They are the world's most beautiful flowers, but there is something you need to know about them so you don't get sick. They are poisonous. I am going to show you photos of the most common poisonous bulbs so that you will be able to recognize them. Note: If you hold your mouse over a photo, you will be able to read the name of each flower.

First Signs of Life

In Germany, the snowdrop pokes its pointed leaves through the snow as early as the end of January. In the Canadian prairies, the blue scilla is the first touch of color in our gardens, but that does not happen until April. I also have some white scilla and some which are white with light blue stripes.

Tulips

Onions are bulbs, and we eat onions. I therefore thought that I should be able to eat tulips. So once I ate the juicy seedpod of a tulip, and I won't eat another one, because it gave me a terrible burning throat.

Hyacinths

My mother never let us bring hyacinths into the house, because their strong perfume can give people headaches.

Daffodils

In Germany, the daffodil is called Osterglocke. That means "Easter bell." When you look at the flower, you can see the bell in the centre. Daffodils are not only poisonous to people and animals, they are even poisonous to other plants. When you place them in a bouquet of flowers, the other flowers will wilt. So if you give your mom daffodils for Easter, keep them in a vase by themselves.

Narcissus

The white narcissus is one of the most beautiful flowers on earth, but I can only grow it indoors here. The bulb does not like our cold winters. The flower has a very strong perfume which can make people sick.
       

Go To Page: 1


The copyright of the article Beautiful Poisonous Flowering Bulbs in Gardening with Children is owned by Traute Klein, biogardener. Permission to republish Beautiful Poisonous Flowering Bulbs in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Post this Article to facebook Add this Article to del.icio.us! Digg this Article furl this Article Add this Article to Reddit Add this Article to Technorati Add this Article to Newsvine Add this Article to Windows Live Add this Article to Yahoo Add this Article to StumbleUpon Add this Article to BlinkLists Add this Article to Spurl Add this Article to Google Add this Article to Ask Add this Article to Squidoo


Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages

6.   May 19, 2004 9:42 AM
Linda tells me that Jimmie is now taller than she is, and she is not short like me. Time has flown by. I remember him sending me a drawing of himself in front of his house a few years ago, and he wa ...

-- posted by biogardener


5.   May 8, 2004 8:40 PM
In zone 3 here in Manitoba, the first bulbs are Siberian scilla. They start blooming right through the snow just like snowdrops in warmer regions. They are still blooming here. Most of them are the ...

-- posted by biogardener


4.   Apr 19, 2004 6:23 PM
<img src="/files/topics/1828/files/daffodils4.jpg" width=140 height=120 align=left>Our daffodils finally opened up their smiling faces this weekend. I took pictures of them today.<img src="/file ...

-- posted by bici


3.   Mar 9, 2004 4:12 AM
What a wonderful person Linda must be! She must be very proud of him,I am sure :) I am glad that you kept the articles going as they are very interesting. Say Hi to Jimmie from me all the way from Aus ...

-- posted by arty4


2.   Mar 9, 2004 3:27 AM
That's Jimmie, the son of my cyber-friend, Linda Mazar who started this topic. We knew each other before Jimmie was in her family. He was one of the pupils in her class in school when he became avai ...

-- posted by biogardener





For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Traute Klein, biogardener's Gardening with Children topic, please visit the Discussions page.