Deadly nightshade in my garden!

Paul at Fechan

Well-Known Member
Oh my God! So we have some pretty but weedy like bushes in the garden that get berries in the summer and I even pulled a young one up and potted it. So the pretty little weedy bush in it's pot was flowering as are the bigger bushes and the mother in law was round and the second she saw it said 'that's deadly nightshade!'

Don't be silly I said but I went and googled it and it is!!! Oh sh1t and the stuff has been in the garden since we moved in. Damn lucky none of the kids munched any of the berries last year when there was loads.... :oops:

I feel so stupid but at least I know to get rid of it now....
 
Its one of those things in life that you only need to see the once, i saw it for the first time this year after it had killed 8 strong lambs:(
 
paul at barony being in the horticulture trade myself i often see people who have deadly nightshade growing in thier gardens with no knowledge of what it is so you certainly are not the first but i havent heard of anyone potting one up before.
We normaly put some gloves on keeping our sleeves rolled down and just pull them up and burn them on a fire [not realy a job for the kids to earn some extra pocket money]
Most gardens are full of plants and shrubs that look nice but are toxic if eaten and it is always something to bear in mind if you have young children or the grandkids coming to stay.
The link below lists a few to avoid or at least be aware of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poisonous_plants
ATB
RICK O SHEA
 
I thought I had pulled some out of my garden but after looking on that site it isn't. It is about a foot high with bell shaped flowers similar in size to a blue bell but they're violet. The berries are red and shaped like a tear drop, if there are any botanists about?
 
yorksjt, Not a botanist, but it's possible that it is Woody Nightshade. That usually grows taller than you state, but the flowers and berries are as you described.
 
Deadly nightshade is a nasty one and it's berries are easily ingested. However, all over the countryside at this time of year are big clumps of what looks similar to cow parsley... the purple blotches on the stem show it to be hemlock though. A real nasty.

Watercress beds and rivers also have hemlock water dropwort. That's a real nasty too. People picking watercress have succumbed.

To echo earlier posts there are lots of plants that will at the very least put you out of action for a few days. Fortunately poisonings of this nature are relatively rare (unless inadvertent ingestion occurs with young children) as most people do not gather food from the wild.
 
I think it's very important to teach children that they shouldn't eat anything unless you say it's ok from whenever they are old enough to understand. My parents took me out berry picking a lot but I was never allowed to pick anything unless supervised.

It's a pretty plant. Pulling them out will protect the kids in your garden but what about the school playground, mates houses etc? Best just to have a serious talk about how nasty these things can be so they know the score.
 
yorksjt, Not a botanist, but it's possible that it is Woody Nightshade. That usually grows taller than you state, but the flowers and berries are as you described.
Top marks, just googled it and you're spot on thanks.

JT
 
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