Although I'm fairly sure I've driven off most of my readers due to neglect of this blog, I'll ask a question of the ether: what are your feelings on keeping poisonous plants?
That beautiful Dieffenbachia plant above was so inviting in the plant nursery that I bought two, one for my mom, and one for myself. The label seemed to have all the pertinent info about it - the temperatures it likes, amount of sun, how often to water, etc.
Nowhere did the label mention: extremely poisonous plant. And yet it is!
I felt so guilty giving my mom that plant that I immediately called to warn her. It's the sap that's poisonous, not the leaves, so gloves and skin covering (and eye covering) should do when cutting in, and no getting it near eyes and mouth. I'm fairly ok with keeping this plant on the balcony, out of reach of my cat (and with no small children in my house).
This one, I'm not so sure about:
This cute, spindly cactus-like plant was a gift. Likewise it came with a nice, descriptive label which I ignored, and began hacking into the extra stems I wanted to prune off. My sharp shears caught on the stems, and in the process I got a mess of very sticky white sap all over my arms and hands. I was lucky I was wearing glasses, and I resisted the temptation to rub my eyes just in case. Also I think I was lucky in that my arms were covered with potting soil, which showed me just where to scrub - since the sap dries clear and colorless, like glue.
Of course, nowhere on the label of the Euphorbia Tirucalli did it mention how poisonous that sticky sap is. The nickname "firesticks" gives you a clue, though, as my Google research told me the sap can make your skin feel like it's on fire, and cause temporary to possibly permanent eye damage. I thoroughly scrubbed it off after thoroughly freaking myself out about it.
No reactions occurred until the next day, when I scooped up the clothes I was wearing to throw them in the wash. My arm immediately broke out into a hot, raised rash with tons of tiny blisters. All I did was touch the clothes for a second. I can only imagine what prolonged exposure would have done.
So I find myself very on the fence about this plant - I'm clumsy, and can easily imagine myself tumbling down on it. Would you keep a poisonous plant?
